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+                             THE FIRE-GODS
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost
+no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it
+under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this
+eBook or online at http://www.gutenberg.org/license.
+
+
+Title: The Fire-Gods
+       A Tale of the Congo
+
+Author: Charles Gilson
+
+Release Date: March 24, 2012 [EBook #39255]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: US-ASCII
+
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE FIRE-GODS***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Al Haines.
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Cover 1]
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Cover 2]
+
+
+
+[Illustration: "MAX LEANED FORWARD TO EXAMINE THE FACE OF THE ROCK; AND
+AS HE DID SO, HE WAS SEIZED SUDDENLY FROM BEHIND."]
+
+
+                             THE FIRE-GODS
+
+                          A Tale of the Congo
+
+
+
+
+                                   By
+
+                         CAPTAIN CHARLES GILSON
+
+         _Author of "Submarine U93," "The Mystery of Ah Jim,"_
+                          _and other Stories._
+
+
+
+
+                     _ILLUSTRATED BY GEORGE SOPER_
+
+
+
+
+                                 LONDON
+                      "THE BOY'S OWN PAPER" OFFICE
+                           4, Bouverie Street
+
+
+
+
+
+                           BY THE SAME AUTHOR
+
+Submarine U93.  A Tale of the Great War by Sea.
+The Mystery of Ah Jim.  A Tale of the East.
+On Secret Service.  A Tale of German Spies.
+A Motor Scout in Flanders.  A Tale of the Bombardment of Antwerp.
+The Race Round the World.  A Tale of the Motor Spirit of the Future.
+The Pirate Aeroplane.  A Tale of the Kingdom of Asmalia.
+The Lost Island.  A Tale of a Chinese Secret Society.
+The Lost Column.  A Tale of the Boxer Rebellion in China.
+Across the Cameroons.  A Tale of the Germans in West Africa.
+The Spy.  A Tale of the Peninsular War.
+The Sword of Freedom.  A Tale of the English Revolution.
+The Lost Empire.  A Tale of the Napoleonic Wars.
+In the Power of the Pygmies.  A Tale of Central Africa.
+In Arms for Russia.  A Tale of the Great War.
+The Pirate Yacht.  A Tale of Southern Seas.
+The Sword of Deliverance.  A Tale of the Balkan War.
+
+
+
+
+                                  ----
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+    CHAPTER I--THE EXPLORERS' CLUB
+    CHAPTER II--ON THE KASAI
+    CHAPTER III--THE WHITE WIZARD
+    CHAPTER IV--THE HIDDEN RIVER
+    CHAPTER V--THE STOCKADE
+    CHAPTER VI--CROUCH ON THE WAR-PATH
+    CHAPTER VII--THE WHITE MAN'S BURDEN
+    CHAPTER VIII--LEAVE TO QUIT
+    CHAPTER IX--A THIEF BY NIGHT
+    CHAPTER X--THE BACK-WATER
+    CHAPTER XI--IN THE LONG RAVINE
+    CHAPTER XII--WHEN HOPE DIES OUT
+    CHAPTER XIII--BACK TO THE UNKNOWN
+    CHAPTER XIV--"BLACK IVORY"
+    CHAPTER XV--CHOLERA
+    CHAPTER XVI--THE OPEN CHEST
+    CHAPTER XVII--THE TABLES TURNED
+    CHAPTER XVIII--FREEDOM
+    CHAPTER XIX--THE PHANTOM CANOE
+    CHAPTER XX--THE RATS ESCAPE
+    CHAPTER XXI--BACK AT THE "EXPLORERS'"
+
+                                  ----
+
+                        ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR
+
+                            BY GEORGE SOPER
+
+"Max leaned forward to examine the face of the rock; and as he did so,
+he was seized suddenly from behind" . . . _Frontispiece_
+
+"Crouch's fist rang out upon his chin like a pistol-shot, and he went
+over backwards into the mud"
+
+"The Great Dane sprang straight at the throat of the young Englishman"
+
+"The lash of the whip rose and fell, until Caesar shrieked for mercy"
+
+
+
+
+                             THE FIRE-GODS
+
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I--THE EXPLORERS' CLUB
+
+
+The Explorers' Club no longer exists.  To-day, as a matter of fact, it
+is a tea-shop in Old Bond Street--a small building, wedged between two
+greater ones, a fashionable milliner's and a famous Art Establishment.
+Towards the end of the last century, in what is known as the
+mid-Victorian era, the Explorers' Club was in the heyday of its glory.
+
+The number of its members was limited to two hundred and fifty-one.  In
+the inner smoking-room, through the green baize doors, where guests were
+not admitted, both the conversation and the company were at once
+remarkable and unique.  The walls were adorned with the trophies of the
+chase: heads of elk, markhor, ibex, haartebeest and waterbuck; great
+lions and snarling tigers; mouflon from Cyprus, and the white leopard of
+the Himalayas.  If you looked into the room through the glass peep-hole
+in one of the green baize doors, you might have thought at first that
+you beheld a menagerie, where the fiercest and the rarest beasts in the
+world were imprisoned in a single cage.  But, presently, your attention
+would have been attracted by the great, sun-burnt men, sprawling in the
+leather chairs, dressed in tweeds for the most part, and nearly every
+one with a blackened briar pipe between his lips.
+
+In those days, Africa was the "Dark Continent"; the source of the Nile
+and the Great Lakes were undiscovered, of the Congo nothing was known.
+Nor was this geographical ignorance confined to a single continent: in
+every part of the world, vast tracts of country, great rivers and
+mountains were as yet unexplored.  And the little that was known of
+these uttermost parts of the earth never passed the green baize doors of
+the inner smoking-room of the Explorers' Club.
+
+There, in an atmosphere blue with smoke, where a great fire roared in
+winter to keep the chill of the London fog from the bones of those who,
+time and again, had been stricken with the fevers of the equatorial
+parts, a small group of men would sit and talk by the hour.  There great
+projects were suggested, criticised and discussed.  A man would rise
+from his seat, take down a map of some half-discovered country, and
+placing his finger upon a blank space, announce in tones of decision
+that that was the exact spot to which he intended to go.  And if he
+went, perhaps, he would not come back.
+
+At the time our story opens, Edward Harden was probably the most popular
+member of the Explorers' Club.  He was still a comparatively young man;
+and though his reputation rested chiefly upon his fame as a big game
+shot, he had rendered no mean service to the cause of science, as the
+honours heaped upon him by the Royal Geographical Society and kindred
+institutions fully testified.
+
+It was early in June, and the height of the London season, when this six
+foot six of explorer walked up St. James's Street on the right-hand
+side.  Somehow he felt that he was out of it.  He was not one of the
+fashionable crowd in the midst of which he found himself.  For ten years
+he had been growing more and more unaccustomed to the life of cities.
+It was a strange thing, he could break his way through the tangled
+thicknesses of an equatorial forest, or wade knee-deep in a mangrove
+swamp, but he could never negotiate the passage of Piccadilly.
+
+As he stood on the "island" in the middle of the street, opposite
+Burlington House, he attracted a considerable amount of attention.  He
+was probably the tallest man at that moment between St. Paul's and the
+Albert Memorial.  His brown moustache was several shades lighter than
+his skin, which had been burnt to the colour of tan.  His long limbs,
+his sloping shoulders, and the slouch with which he walked, gave him an
+appearance of looseness and prodigious strength.  Also he had a habit of
+walking with his fists closed, and his arms swinging like pendulums. He
+was quite unconscious of the fact that people turned and stared after
+him, or that he was an object of exceeding admiration to small boys, who
+speculated upon the result of a blow from his fist.
+
+He had not gone far along Bond Street when he cannoned into a young man,
+who received a ponderous blow in the chest from Harden's swinging fist.
+The explorer could hardly have been expected to look where he was going,
+since at that moment he was passing a gunsmith's where the latest
+improvement of elephant gun was on view in the window.
+
+"I beg your pardon!" he exclaimed in eager apology.
+
+"It's nothing," said the other, and then added, with a note of surprise,
+"Uncle Ted, by all that's wonderful!  I might have known it was you."
+
+Edward Harden seldom expressed surprise.  He just took the young
+gentleman by the arm and walked him along at the rate of about five
+miles an hour.  "Come and have lunch," said he.
+
+Now Max Harden, in addition to being the explorer's only nephew, was a
+medical student at one of the London hospitals.  As a small boy, he had
+regarded his uncle as one of the greatest men in the universe--which, in
+a physical sense, he was.
+
+A week before Max had come of age, which meant that he had acquired the
+modest inheritance of a thousand pounds a year.  He had also secured a
+commission from the Royal Academy of Physicians to make sundry inquiries
+into the origin of certain obscure tropical diseases in the district of
+the Lower Congo.  This was precisely the part of the world to which
+Edward Harden was about to depart.  Max knew that quite well, and his
+idea was to travel with his uncle.  He had been to the Explorers' Club,
+and had been told by the hall porter that Mr. Edward Harden was out, but
+that he would probably return for lunch.  It was about two minutes later
+that he collided with his uncle outside the gunsmith's shop.
+
+To lunch at the Explorers' Club was in itself an achievement.  That day
+several well-known men were there: Du Cane, the lion hunter; Frankfort
+Williams, back from the Arctic, and George Cartwright, who had not yet
+accomplished his famous journey into Thibet.  Upon the walls of the
+dining-room were full-length pictures of the great pioneers of
+exploration: Columbus, Franklin and Cook.  It was not until after
+luncheon, when Max and his uncle were seated in the outer
+smoking-room--through the green baize doors, it will be remembered, it
+was forbidden for guests to enter--that Max broached the topic that was
+nearest to his heart.
+
+"Uncle Ted," said he, "tell me about this expedition?  As yet I know
+nothing."
+
+"We're going up the Congo," answered Harden simply; "and it's natural
+enough that you should know nothing about it, since practically nothing
+is known.  Our object is big game, but we hope to bring back some
+valuable geographical information.  The mouth of the Congo was
+discovered by the Portuguese in the fifteenth century.  Since then
+several trading-stations have sprung up on the river, but no one has
+penetrated inland.  It is known that about five hundred miles from the
+mouth of the river, a tributary, called the Kasai, flows from the south.
+Of the upper valley of that river absolutely nothing is known, except
+that it consists of the most impenetrable forests and is inhabited by
+cannibal tribes.  It is there we propose to go."
+
+"Who goes with you?" asked Max.
+
+"Crouch," said Harden; "Captain Crouch.  The most remarkable man on the
+Coast.  Nobody in England has ever heard of him; but on the West Coast,
+from Lagos to Loango, he is either hated like sin or worshipped like a
+heathen god.  There's no man alive who understands natives as well as
+Crouch.  He can get more work out of a pack of Kru-boys in a day than a
+shipping-agent or a trader can in a week."
+
+"How do you account for it?" asked Max.
+
+"Pluck," said Harden, "and perseverance.  Also, from the day he was
+born, a special providence seems to have guarded him.  For many years he
+was captain of a coasting-packet that worked from St. Louis to Spanish
+Guinea.  He fell overboard once in the Bight of Biafra, and lost a
+foot."
+
+"How did he do that?" asked Max, already vastly interested in the
+personality of Captain Crouch.
+
+"Sharks," said Harden, as if it were an everyday occurrence.  "They swim
+round Fernando Po like goldfish in a bowl.  Would you believe it? Crouch
+knifed that fish in the water, though he'll wear a cork foot to his
+dying day.  He was one of the first men to force his way up the Niger,
+and I happened to be at Old Calabar when he was brought in with a
+poisoned arrow-head in his eye.  At that time the natives of the
+interior used to dip their weapons in snake's poison, and no one but
+Crouch could have lived.  But he pulled through all right.  He's one of
+those small, wiry men that can't be killed.  He has got a case full of
+glass eyes now, of all the colours in the rainbow, and he plays Old
+Harry with the natives.  If they don't do what he wants, I've seen him
+pull out a blue eye and put in a red one, which frightens the life out
+of them.  Crouch isn't like any one else I've ever met.  He has the most
+astonishing confidence in himself; he's practically fever-proof; he can
+talk about twenty West African dialects, and he's a better shot than I
+am.  I believe the only person he cares for in the world is myself.  I
+would never dream of undertaking this expedition without him."
+
+"I suppose," said Max, a trifle nervously, "you wouldn't think of
+including a third member in your party?"
+
+Edward Harden looked at his nephew sharply.  "What do you mean?" he
+asked.
+
+"I mean," said Max, "that I have undertaken to investigate certain
+tropical diseases, such as sleeping sickness and malarial typhoid, in
+the very districts to which you are going.  I thought you might not
+object if I came with you.  I didn't know I had Captain Crouch to deal
+with."
+
+Edward Harden rose to his feet and knocked out his pipe in the grate.
+
+"For myself," said he, "I should be pleased to have you with me.  Are
+you ready to start at once?  We hope to sail next week."
+
+Max nodded.
+
+"H'm," said the explorer, "I must ask Crouch.  I think he's in the
+club."
+
+He went to one of the green baize doors at the other end of the room,
+opened it, and looked in.
+
+"Crouch," said he, "do you mind coming here a moment.  There's something
+I want to ask you."
+
+He then came back to his seat and filled another pipe.  As he was
+engaged in lighting this, a green baize door swung back and there
+entered one of the most extraordinary men that it was ever the lot of
+the young medical student to behold.
+
+As we have said, the Explorers' Club was in Bond Street, and Captain
+Crouch was dressed after the fashion of a pilot; that is to say, he wore
+a navy-blue suit with brass buttons and a red tie.  He was a very small
+man, and exceedingly thin.  There seemed nothing of him.  His head was
+almost entirely bald.  He wore a small, bristling moustache, cut short
+like a tooth-brush, and a tuft of hair beneath his nether lip.  His
+eyebrows were exceedingly dark, and met on the bridge of his nose.  His
+skin was the colour of parchment, and wrinkled and creased in all
+directions.  He had a large hook nose, and a chin of excessive
+prominence.  Though he appeared entirely bloodless, there was something
+about him that suggested extreme vital energy--the kind of vitality
+which may be observed in a rat.  He was an aggressive-looking man.
+Though he walked with a pronounced limp, he was quick in all his
+movements.  His mouth was closed fast upon a pipe in which he smoked a
+kind of black tobacco which is called Bull's Eye Shag, one whiff of
+which would fumigate a greenhouse, killing every insect therein from an
+aphis to a spider.  He reeked of this as a soap-factory smells of fat.
+In no other club in London would its consumption have been allowed; but
+the Explorers were accustomed to greater hardships than even the smell
+of Bull's Eye Shag.
+
+"Well, Ted," said Crouch, "what's this?"
+
+One eye, big and staring, was directed out of the window; the other,
+small, black and piercing, turned inwards upon Max in the most appalling
+squint.
+
+"This is my nephew," said Harden; "Max Harden--Captain Crouch, my
+greatest friend."
+
+Max held out a hand, but Crouch appeared not to notice it.  He turned to
+Edward.
+
+"What's the matter with him?" he asked.
+
+"He's suffering from a complaint which, I fancy, both you and I
+contracted in our younger days--a desire to investigate the Unknown. In
+a word, Crouch, he wants to come with us."
+
+Crouch whipped round upon Max.
+
+"You're too young for the Coast," said he.  "You'll go out the moment
+you get there like a night-light."
+
+"I'm ready to take my chance," said Max.
+
+Crouch looked pleased at that, for his only eye twinkled and seemed to
+grow smaller.
+
+Max was anxious to take advantage of the little ground he might have
+gained.  "Also," he added, "I am a medical man--at least, I'm a medical
+student.  I am making a special study of tropical diseases."
+
+And no sooner were the words from his lips than he saw he had made a
+fatal mistake, for Captain Crouch brought down his fist so violently
+upon one of the little smokers' tables with which the room was
+scattered, that the three legs broke off, and the whole concern
+collapsed upon the floor.
+
+"Do you think we want a medical adviser!" he roared.  "Study till you're
+black in the face, till you're eighty years old, and you won't know a
+tenth of what I know.  What's the use of all your science?  I've lived
+on the Coast for thirty years, and I tell you this: there are only two
+things that matter where fever is concerned--pills and funk. Waiter,
+take that table away, and burn it."
+
+It is probable that at this juncture Max's hopes had been dashed to
+earth had it not been for his uncle, who now put in a word.
+
+"Tell you what, Crouch," said he, in the quiet voice which, for some
+reason or other, all big men possess; "the boy might be useful, after
+all.  He's a good shot.  He's made of the right stuff--I've known him
+since he was a baby.  He's going out there anyhow, so he may as well
+come with us."
+
+"Why, of course he may," said Crouch.  "I'm sure we'll be delighted to
+have him."
+
+Such a sudden change of front was one of the most remarkable
+characteristics of this extraordinary man.  Often, in the breath of a
+single sentence, he would appear to change his mind.  But this was not
+the case.  He had a habit of thinking aloud, and of expressing his
+thoughts in the most vehement manner imaginable.  Indeed, if his
+character can be summed up in any one word, it would be this one word
+"vehemence."  He talked loudly, he gesticulated violently, he smashed
+the furniture, and invariably knocked his pipe out in such a frantic
+manner that he broke the stem.  And yet Edward Harden---who knew him
+better than any one else in the world--always protested that he had
+never known Crouch to lose his temper.  This was just the ordinary
+manner in which he lived, breathed and had his being.
+
+"I'm sure," said Captain Crouch, "we will be delighted to take you with
+us.  Ted, what are you going to do this afternoon?"
+
+"I am going to get some exercise--a turn in the Park."
+
+"I'll come with you," said Crouch.
+
+So saying, he stumped off to fetch his cap which he had left in the
+inner room.  No sooner was he gone than Max turned to his uncle.
+
+"Uncle Ted," said he, "I can't thank you sufficiently."
+
+The big man laid a hand upon the young one's shoulder.
+
+"That's nothing," said he.  "But I must tell you this: if you are coming
+with us to the Kasai, you must drop the 'uncle.'  Your father was
+considerably older than I was--fifteen years.  You had better call me by
+my Christian name--Edward.  'Ted's' a trifle too familiar."
+
+By then they were joined by Crouch, who carried a large knotted stick in
+one hand, and in the other--a paper bag.
+
+"What have you got there?" asked Harden, pointing to the bag.
+
+"Sweets," said Crouch.  "For the children in the Park."
+
+And so it came about that they three left the Explorers' Club together,
+Max in the middle, with his gigantic uncle on one hand, and the little
+wizened sea-captain on the other.
+
+They created no small amount of interest and amazement in Bond Street,
+but they were blissfully ignorant of the fact.  The world of these men
+was not the world of the little parish of St. James's.  One was little
+more than a boy, whose mind was filled with dreams; but the others were
+men who had seen the stars from places where no human being had ever
+beheld them before, who had been the first to set foot in unknown lands,
+who had broken into the heart of savagery and darkness.  Theirs was a
+world of danger, hardship and adventure.  They had less respect for the
+opinion of those who passed them by than for the wild beasts that prowl
+by night around an African encampment.  After all, the world is made up
+of two kinds of men: those who think and those who act; and who can say
+which is the greater of the two?
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II--ON THE KASAI
+
+
+A mist lay upon the river like a cloud of steam.  The sun was invisible,
+except for a bright concave dome, immediately overhead, which showed
+like the reflection of a furnace in the midst of the all-pervading
+greyness of the heavens.  The heat was intense--the heat of the
+vapour-room of a Turkish bath.  Myriads of insects droned upon the
+surface of the water.
+
+The river had still a thousand miles to cover before it reached the
+ocean--the blazing, surf-beaten coast-line to the north of St. Paul de
+Loanda.  Its turgid, coffee-coloured waters rushed northward through a
+land of mystery and darkness, lapping the banks amid black mangrove
+swamps and at the feet of gigantic trees whose branches were tangled in
+confusion.
+
+In pools where the river widened, schools of hippopotami lay like great
+logs upon the surface, and here and there a crocodile basked upon a
+mud-bank, motionless by the hour, like some weird, bronze image that had
+not the power to move.  In one place a two-horned rhinoceros burst
+through the jungle, and with a snort thrust its head above the current
+of the stream.
+
+This was the Unknown.  This was the World as it Had Been, before man was
+on the earth.  These animals are the relics that bind us to the Past, to
+the cave-men and the old primordial days.  There was a silence on the
+river that seemed somehow overpowering, rising superior to the ceaseless
+droning of the insects and the soft gurgling of the water, which formed
+little shifting eddies in the lee of fallen trees.
+
+A long canoe shot through the water like some great, questing beast.
+Therein were twelve natives from Loango, all but naked as they came into
+the world.  Their paddles flashed in the reflected light of the furnace
+overhead; for all that, the canoe came forward without noise except for
+the gentle rippling sound of the water under the bows.  In the stern
+were seated two men side by side, and one of these was Edward Harden,
+and the other his nephew Max.  In the body of the canoe was a great
+number of "loads": camp equipment, provisions, ammunition and cheap
+Manchester goods, such as are used by the traders to barter for ivory
+and rubber with the native chiefs.  Each "load" was the maximum weight
+that could be carried by a porter, should the party find it necessary to
+leave the course of the river.
+
+In the bows, perched like an eagle above his eyrie, was Captain Crouch.
+His solitary eye darted from bank to bank.  In his thin nervous hands he
+held a rifle, ready on the instant to bring the butt into the hollow of
+his shoulder.
+
+As the canoe rounded each bend of the river, the crocodiles glided from
+the mud-banks and the hippopotami sank silently under the stream.  Here
+and there two nostrils remained upon the surface--small, round, black
+objects, only discernible by the ripples which they caused.
+
+Suddenly a shot rang out, sharp as the crack of a whip.  The report
+echoed, again and again, in the dark, inhospitable forest that extended
+on either bank.  There was a rush of birds that rose upon the wing; the
+natives shipped their paddles, and, on the left bank of the river, the
+two-horned rhinoceros sat bolt upright on its hind-legs like a sow, with
+its fore-legs wide apart.  Then, slowly, it rolled over and sank deep
+into the mud.  By then Crouch had reloaded.
+
+"What was it?" asked Harden.
+
+"A rhino," said Crouch.  "We were too far off for him to see us, and the
+wind was the right way."
+
+A moment later the canoe drew into the bank a little distance from where
+the great beast lay.  Harden and Crouch waded into the mire, knives in
+hand; and that rhino was skinned with an ease and rapidity which can
+only be accomplished by the practised hunter.  The meat was cut into
+large slices, which were distributed as rations to the natives.  Of the
+rest, only the head was retained, and this was put into a second canoe,
+which soon after came into sight.
+
+After that they continued their journey up the wide, mysterious river.
+All day long the paddles were never still, the rippling sound continued
+at the bows.  Crouch remained motionless as a statue, rifle in hand,
+ready to fire at a moment's notice.  With his dark, overhanging brow,
+his hook nose, and his thin, straight lips, he bore a striking
+resemblance to some gaunt bird of prey.
+
+A second shot sounded as suddenly and unexpectedly as the first, and a
+moment after Crouch was on his feet.
+
+"A leopard!" he cried.  "I hit him.  He's wounded.  Run her into the
+bank."
+
+The canoe shot under a large tree, one branch of which overhung the
+water so low that they were able to seize it.  Edward Harden was ashore
+in a moment, followed by his nephew.  Crouch swung himself ashore by
+means of the overhanging bough.  Harden's eyes were fixed upon the
+ground.  It was a place where animals came to drink, for the soft mud
+had been trampled and churned by the feet of many beasts.
+
+"There!" cried Harden.  "Blood!"
+
+Sure enough, upon the green leaf of some strange water plant there was a
+single drop of blood.  Though the big game hunter had spoken in an
+excited manner, he had never raised his voice.
+
+It was Crouch who took up the spoor, and followed it from leaf to leaf.
+Whenever he failed to pick it up, Harden put him right.  Max was as a
+baby in such matters, and it was often that he failed to recognize the
+spoor, even when it was pointed out to him.
+
+They had to break their way through undergrowth so thick that it was
+like a woodstack.  The skin upon their hands and faces was scratched
+repeatedly by thorns.  They were followed by a cloud of insects.  They
+were unable to see the sky above them by reason of the branches of the
+trees, which, high above the undergrowth through which they passed,
+formed a vast barrier to the sunlight.  And yet it was not dark.  There
+was a kind of half-light which it is difficult to describe, and which
+seemed to emanate from nowhere.  Nothing in particular, yet everything
+in general, appeared to be in the shade.
+
+On a sudden Crouch stopped dead.
+
+"He's not far from here," he said.  "Look there!"
+
+Max's eyes followed Crouch's finger.  He saw a place where the long
+grass was all crushed and broken as if some animal had been lying down,
+and in two places there were pools of blood.
+
+Crouch raised both arms.  "Open out," said he.  "Be ready to fire if he
+springs.  He'll probably warn you with a growl."
+
+This information was for the benefit of Max.  To tell Edward Harden such
+things would be like giving minute instructions to a fish concerning the
+rudiments of swimming.
+
+Max, obeying Crouch's orders, broke into the jungle on the left, whereas
+Edward moved to the right.  Keeping abreast of one another, they moved
+forward for a distance of about two hundred yards.  This time it was
+Harden who ordered the party to halt.  They heard his quiet voice in the
+midst of the thickets: "Crouch, come here; I want you."
+
+A moment later Max joined his two friends.  He found them standing side
+by side: Edward, with eyes turned upward like one who listens, and
+Crouch with an ear to the ground.  Harden, by placing a finger upon his
+lips, signed to his nephew to be silent.  Max also strained his ears to
+catch the slight sound in the jungle which had aroused the suspicion of
+these experienced hunters.
+
+After a while he heard a faint snap, followed by another, and then a
+third.  Then there was a twanging sound, very soft, like the noise of a
+fiddle-string when thrummed by a finger.  It was followed almost
+immediately by a shriek, as terrible and unearthly as anything that Max
+had ever heard.  It was the dying scream of a wounded beast--one of the
+great tribe of cats.
+
+Crouch got to his feet.
+
+"Fans," said he.  "What's more, they've got my leopard."
+
+He made the remark in the same manner as a Londoner might point out a
+Putney 'bus; yet, at that time, the Fans were one of the most warlike of
+the cannibal tribes of Central Africa.  They were reputed to be
+extremely hostile to Europeans, and that was about all that was known
+concerning them.
+
+Edward Harden was fully as calm as his friend.
+
+"We can't get back," said he.  "It's either a palaver, or a fight."
+
+"Come, then," said Crouch.  "Let's see which it is."
+
+At that he led the way, making better progress than before, since he no
+longer regarded the spoor of the wounded leopard.
+
+Presently they came to a place where the jungle ceased abruptly.  This
+was the edge of a swamp--a circular patch, about two hundred yards
+across, where nothing grew but a species of slender reed.  Though Max
+had not known it, this was the very place for which the other two were
+looking.  Backwoodsmen though they were, they had no desire to face a
+hostile tribe in jungle so dense that it would scarcely be possible to
+lift a rifle to the present.
+
+The reeds grew in tufts capable of bearing the weight of a heavy man;
+but, in between, was a black, glutinous mud.
+
+"If you fall into that," said Crouch, who still led the way, "you'll
+stick like glue, and you'll be eaten alive by leeches."
+
+In the centre of the swamp the ground rose into a hillock, and here it
+was possible for them to stand side by side.  They waited for several
+moments in absolute silence.  And then a dark figure burst through the
+jungle, and a second later fell flat upon the ground.
+
+"I was right," said Crouch.  "That man was a Fan.  We'll find out in a
+moment whether they mean to fight.  I hope to goodness they don't find
+the canoes."
+
+In the course of the next few minutes it became evident, even to Max,
+that they were surrounded.  On all sides the branches and leaves of the
+undergrowth on the edge of the swamp were seen to move, and here and
+there the naked figure of a savage showed between the trees.
+
+The Fans are still one of the dominant races of Central Africa.  About
+the middle of the last century the tribe swept south-west from the
+equatorial regions, destroying the villages and massacring the people of
+the more peaceful tribes towards the coast.  The Fans have been proved
+to possess higher intelligence than the majority of the Central African
+races.  Despite their pugnacious character, and the practice of
+cannibalism which is almost universal among them, they have been
+described as being bright, active and energetic Africans, including
+magnificent specimens of the human race.  At this time, however, little
+was known concerning them, and that little, for the most part, was
+confined to Captain Crouch, who, on a previous occasion, had penetrated
+into the Hinterland of the Gabun.
+
+Edward Harden and his friends were not left long in doubt as to whether
+or not the Fans intended to be hostile, for presently a large party of
+men advanced upon them from all sides at once.  For the most part these
+warriors were armed with great shields and long spears, though a few
+carried bows and arrows.  The Fan spear is a thing by itself.  The head
+is attached but lightly to the shaft, so that when the warrior plunges
+his weapon into his victims, the spear-head remains in the wound.
+
+Captain Crouch handed his rifle to Edward, and then stepped forward
+across the marsh to meet these would-be enemies.  He was fully alive to
+their danger.  He knew that with their firearms they could keep the
+savages at bay for some time, but in the end their ammunition would run
+out.  He thought there was still a chance that the matter might be
+settled in an amicable manner.
+
+"Palaver," said he, speaking in the language of the Fans.  "Friends.
+Trade-palaver Good."
+
+The only answer he got was an arrow that shot past his ear, and
+disappeared in the mud He threw back his head and laughed.
+
+"No good," he cried.  "Trade-palaver friends."
+
+A tall, thin savage, about six feet in height, approached by leaps and
+bounds, springing like an antelope from one tuft of grass to another.
+His black face, with white, gleaming teeth, looked over the top of a
+large, oval shield.  With a final spring, he landed on dry ground a few
+feet from where Crouch was standing.  Then he raised his spear on high;
+but, before he had time to strike, Crouch's fist rang out upon his chin
+like a pistol-shot, and he went over backwards into the mud.
+
+[Illustration: "CROUCH'S FIST RANG OUT UPON HIS CHIN LIKE A PISTOL-SHOT,
+AND HE WENT OVER BACKWARDS INTO THE MUD."]
+
+There was a strange, sucking noise as the marsh swallowed him to the
+chin.  For some moments he floundered hopelessly, his two hands grasping
+in the air.  He laid hold of tufts of grass, and pulled them up by the
+roots.  Then Crouch bent down, gripped both his hands, and with a great
+effort dragged him on to terra firma.
+
+His black skin was plastered with a blacker mud, and on almost every
+inch of his body, from his neck to his feet, a large water-leech was
+glued like an enormous slug.  The man was already weak from loss of
+blood.  Had he remained in the marsh a minute longer, there is no doubt
+he would have fainted.  Crouch took a knife from his pocket, and,
+talking all the time, as a nursemaid talks to a naughty child, one by
+one he tore the leeches from the man's body, and threw them back into
+the marsh.
+
+The others, who had drawn closer, remained at a safe distance.  It seems
+they were undecided how to act, since this man was their leader, and
+they were accustomed to receive their orders from him.  It is impossible
+to say what would have happened, had not Crouch taken charge of the
+situation.  He asked the man where his village was, and the fellow
+pointed to the east.
+
+"Yonder," said he; "in the hills."
+
+"Lead on," said Crouch.  "We're coming home with you, for a cup of tea
+and a talk."
+
+For a moment the man was too stupefied to answer.  He had never expected
+this kind of reception from an individual who could have walked under
+his outstretched arm.  What surprised him most of all was Crouch's
+absolute self-confidence.  The Negro and Bantu races are all alike in
+this: they are extraordinarily simple-minded and impressionable.  The
+Fan chieftain looked at Crouch, and then dropped his eyes.  When he
+lifted them, a broad grin had extended across his face.
+
+"Good," said he.  "My village.  Palaver.  You come."
+
+Crouch turned and winked at Max, and then followed the chief towards the
+jungle.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III--THE WHITE WIZARD
+
+
+When both parties were gathered together on the edge of the marsh, Max
+felt strangely uncomfortable.  Both Crouch and Edward seemed thoroughly
+at home, and the former was talking to the chief as if he had found an
+old friend whom he had not seen for several years.  Putting aside the
+strangeness of his surroundings, Max was not able to rid his mind of the
+thought that these men were cannibals.  He looked at them in disgust.
+There was nothing in particular to distinguish them from the other races
+he had seen upon the coast, except, perhaps, they were of finer physique
+and had better foreheads.  It was the idea which was revolting.  In the
+country of the Fans there are no slaves, no prisoners, and no
+cemeteries; a fact which speaks for itself.
+
+Crouch and the chief, whose name was M'Wane, led the way through the
+jungle.  They came presently to the body of the wounded leopard, which
+lay with an arrow in its heart.  It was the "twang" of the bowstring
+that Max had heard in the jungle.  And now took place an incident that
+argued well for the future.
+
+M'Wane protested that the leopard belonged to Crouch, since the
+Englishman had drawn first blood.  This was the law of his tribe.
+Crouch, on the other hand, maintained that the law of his tribe was that
+the game was the property of the killer.  The chief wanted the
+leopard-skin, and it required little persuasion to make him accept it,
+which he was clearly delighted to do.
+
+Crouch skinned the leopard himself, and presented the skin to M'Wane.
+And then the whole party set forth again, and soon came to a track along
+which progress was easy.
+
+It was approaching nightfall when they reached the extremity of the
+forest, and came upon a great range of hills which, standing clear of
+the mist that hung in the river valley, caught the full glory of the
+setting sun.  Upon the upper slopes of the hills was a village of two
+rows of huts, and at each end of the streets thus formed was a
+guard-house, where a sentry stood on duty.  M'Wane's hut was larger than
+the others, and it was into this that the Europeans were conducted.  In
+the centre of the floor was a fire, and hanging from several places in
+the roof were long sticks with hooks on them, the hooks having been made
+by cutting off branching twigs.  From these hooks depended the scant
+articles of the chief's wardrobe and several fetish charms.
+
+For two hours Crouch and the chief talked, and it was during that
+conversation that there came to light the most extraordinary episode of
+which we have to tell.  From that moment, and for many weeks afterwards,
+it was a mystery that they were wholly unable to solve. Both Crouch and
+Harden knew the savage nature too well to believe that M'Wane lied.
+Though his story was vague, and overshadowed by the superstitions that
+darken the minds of the fetish worshippers, there was no doubt that it
+was based upon fact.  As the chief talked, Crouch translated to his
+friends.
+
+The chief first asked what they were doing on the Kasai, and Crouch
+answered that they were there for big game--for rhinoceros, buffalo and
+leopard.  The chief answered that there was certainly much game on the
+Kasai, but there was more on the "Hidden River."  That was the first
+time they ever heard the name.
+
+Crouch asked why it was called the "Hidden River"; and M'Wane answered
+that it would be impossible for any one to find the mouth.  On the
+southern bank of the Kasai, about two days up-stream, there was a large
+mangrove swamp, and it was beyond this that the "Hidden River" lay.
+
+"Can you pass through the swamp in a canoe?" asked Crouch.
+
+The chief shook his head, and said that a canoe could pass the mangrove
+swamp, but it could not penetrate far up the river, because of a great
+waterfall, where the water fell hundreds of feet between huge pillars of
+rock.
+
+"One can carry a canoe," said Crouch.
+
+"Perhaps," said M'Wane, as if in doubt.  "But, of those that pass the
+cataract, none come back alive."
+
+"Why?" asked Crouch.
+
+"Because of the Fire-gods that haunt the river.  The Fire-gods are
+feared from the seacoast to the Lakes."
+
+Crouch pricked up his ears like a terrier that scents a rat.  The little
+man sat cross-legged, with his hands upon his ankles; and as he plied
+the Fan chief with questions, he positively wriggled where he sat.
+
+He found out that the "Fire-gods" were white men--a fact that astonished
+him exceedingly.  He was told that they were not white men like himself
+and his friends, but wicked spirits who controlled the thunder and who
+could make the earth tremble for miles around.  Even the Fans feared
+them, and for several months none of the tribes had ventured into the
+valley of the "Hidden River."
+
+"They're men with rifles," said Harden.  "These people have never seen a
+firearm in their lives."
+
+At that he led M'Wane from the hut, and, followed by Max and Crouch, he
+walked a little distance from the village.  There, in the moonlight, he
+picked up a stone from the ground, and set this upon a branch.  From a
+distance of about twenty paces, with M'Wane at his side, he lifted his
+rifle to his shoulder, and struck the stone with a bullet, so that it
+fell upon the ground.
+
+"There," said he, "that is what your Fire-gods do; they are armed with
+rifles--like this."
+
+But M'Wane shook his head.  He had heard of rifles.  Tribes they had
+raided upon the coast had spoken of the white men that could slay at a
+distance.  But the Fire-gods were greater still.  Every evening, in the
+valley of the Hidden River, loud thunder rent the air.  The birds had
+left the valley--even the snakes had gone.  The Fire-gods were kings
+over Nature.  Moreover, they were merciless.  Hundreds of natives--men
+of the Pende tribe, the Pambala and the Bakutu--had gone into the
+valley; but no one had returned.
+
+At that Crouch set off towards the hut without a word.  The others,
+following, found him seated cross-legged at the fire, tugging at the
+tuft of hair which grew beneath his lip.  For some minutes the little
+wizened sea-captain spoke aloud to himself.
+
+"I'll find out who these people are," said he.  "White men may have gone
+up the river to trade; but it's bad for business if you get a reputation
+for murder.  I don't understand it at all.  I've heard of a white race
+in the centre of the continent; maybe it's they.  I hope it is.  At any
+rate, we'll go and see."
+
+For a few brief moments he lapsed into silence.  Then he tapped M'Wane
+on the arm.
+
+"Will you take us to the Hidden River?" he asked.
+
+M'Wane sprang to his feet, violently shaking his head.  He protested
+that he dared do nothing of the sort.  They could not disbelieve him,
+for the man was actually trembling in his limbs.
+
+Crouch turned to Harden.
+
+"I've a mind to look into this," said he.
+
+"I, too," said the other.
+
+"He won't take us," said Max.
+
+"I'll make him," said Crouch.  "For the present, I'm going to sleep. The
+boys will stick to the canoes.  We must get back to the river to-morrow
+afternoon.  Good-night."
+
+So saying, he curled himself up like a hedgehog, and, resting his head
+upon his folded arms, immediately fell asleep.
+
+It was already three months since they had left Banana Point at the
+mouth of the Congo.  They had journeyed to the foot of the rapids by
+steamboat, and thence had carried their canoes across several miles of
+country.  They had enjoyed a good deal of mixed shooting in the lower
+valley, and then they had said good-bye to the few trading stations, or
+factories, which lay scattered at wide intervals upon the banks of the
+great river, and which were the last links that bound them to such
+civilization as the wilds of Africa could show.  Max had already gained
+much experience of life in the wilds of tropical Africa.  This was not
+the first time that he had found himself obliged to sleep upon the
+ground, without pillow or blankets, or that which was still more
+necessary--a mosquito-net.
+
+When he opened his eyes it was daylight, and the first thing that he
+beheld was Captain Crouch, seated cross-legged at the fireside, with his
+pipe between his teeth.  His one eye was fixed in the glowing embers.
+He appeared to be deep in thought, for his face was all screwed up, and
+he never moved.  Thin wreaths of smoke came from the bowl of his pipe,
+and the hut reeked of his foul tobacco.  Suddenly he snatched the pipe
+from his lips, and banged the bowl so viciously upon the heel of his
+boot that he broke it in twain.  "I have it!" he cried. "I've got it!"
+
+Max asked what was the matter.
+
+"I've got an idea," said Crouch.  "I'll make this fellow take us to the
+Hidden River, whether he wants to or not.  They are frightened of these
+Fire-gods, are they!  By Christopher, I'll make them more frightened of
+me, or my name was never Crouch!"
+
+He got to his feet, and crossed the hut to M'Wane, who still lay asleep.
+He seized the chief by the shoulders and shook him violently, until the
+man sat up and rubbed his eyes.
+
+"Your people," said he.  "Big palaver.  Now.  Be quick."
+
+M'Wane seemed to understand, for he got up and left the hut.  Edward
+Harden was now awake.
+
+The life that is lived by these Central African tribes finds a parallel
+in the ancient history of nearly all races that we know of. Government,
+for the most part, is in the hands of the headman of every village.  The
+maintenance of law and order, the giving of wives, the exchange of
+possessions, is settled by "palaver," which amounts to a kind of meeting
+of the entire population, presided over by the chief. Near every village
+is a regular palaver-ground, usually in the shade of the largest tree in
+the neighbourhood.
+
+It was here, on this early morning, that M'Wane summoned all the
+inhabitants of the village--men, women and children.  They seated
+themselves upon the ground in a wide circle, in the midst of which was
+the trunk of a fallen tree.  Upon this trunk the three Europeans seated
+themselves, Crouch in the middle, with his companions on either side.
+
+When all was ready, M'Wane rose to his feet, and announced in stentorian
+tones that the little white man desired to speak to them, and that they
+must listen attentively to what he had to say.  Whereupon Crouch got to
+his feet, and from that moment onward--in the parlance of the
+theatre--held the stage: the whole scene was his.  He talked for nearly
+an hour, and during that time never an eye was shifted from his face,
+except when he called attention to the parrot.
+
+He was wonderful to watch.  He shouted, he gesticulated, he even danced.
+In face of his limited vocabulary, it is a wonder how he made himself
+understood; but he did.  He was perfectly honest from the start.
+Perhaps his experience had taught him that it is best to be honest with
+savages, as it is with horses and dogs.  He said that he had made his
+way up the Kasai in order to penetrate to the upper reaches of the
+Hidden River.  He said that he had heard of the Fire-gods, and he was
+determined to find out who they were.  For himself, he believed that the
+Fire-gods were masters of some kind of witchcraft.  It would be madness
+to fight them with spears and bows and arrows.  He believed, from what
+he had heard, that even his own rifle would be impotent.  High on a
+tree-top was perched a parrot, that preened its feathers in the
+sunlight, and chattered to itself.  Crouch pointed this parrot out to
+the bewildered natives, and then, lifting his rifle to his shoulder,
+fired, and the bird fell dead to the ground. That was the power he
+possessed, he told them: he could strike at a distance, and he seldom
+failed to kill.  And yet he dared not approach the Fire-gods, because
+they were masters of witchcraft.  But he also knew the secrets of magic,
+and his magic was greater and more potent than the magic of the
+Fire-gods.  He could not be killed; he was immortal.  He was prepared to
+prove it.  Whereat, he re-loaded his rifle, and deliberately fired a
+bullet through his foot.
+
+The crowd rushed in upon him from all sides, stricken in amazement. But
+Crouch waved them back, and stepping up to Edward, told the Englishman
+to shoot again.  Harden lifted his rifle to his shoulder, and sent a
+bullet into the ankle of Crouch's cork foot.  Thereupon, Crouch danced
+round the ring of natives, shouting wildly, springing into the air,
+proving to all who might behold that he was a thousand times alive.
+
+They fell down upon their faces and worshipped him as a god.  Without
+doubt he had spoken true: he was invulnerable, immortal, a witch-doctor
+of unheard-of powers.
+
+But Crouch had not yet done.  Before they had time to recover from their
+amazement, he had snatched out his glass eye, and thrust it into the
+hands of M'Wane himself, who dropped it like a living coal.  They rushed
+to it, and looked at it, but dared not touch it.  And when they looked
+up, Crouch had another eye in the socket--an eye that was flaming red.
+
+A loud moan arose from every hand--a moan which gave expression to their
+mingled feelings of bewilderment, reverence and fear.  From that moment
+Crouch was "the White Wizard," greater even than the Fire-gods, as the
+glory of the sun outstrips the moon.
+
+"And now," cried Crouch, lifting his hands in the air, "will you, or
+will you not, guide me to the Hidden River where the Fire-gods live?"
+
+M'Wane came forward and prostrated himself upon the ground.
+
+"The White Wizard," said he, "has only to command."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV--THE HIDDEN RIVER
+
+
+It is not necessary to describe in detail the passage up the Kasai, from
+the place where the leopard had been wounded to Date Palm Island, which
+was where M'Wane decided to disembark.  During that voyage, which
+occupied two and a half days, they passed a mangrove swamp upon the
+southern bank, which the Fan chief pointed out as the place where the
+Hidden River joined the Kasai.
+
+No one would have guessed it.  The short, stunted trees were packed so
+close together that their branches formed a kind of solid roof which
+appeared to extend for miles.  Underneath, there was darkness as of
+night.  There was nothing to suggest that another river here joined the
+larger stream.  The Kasai did not narrow above the swamp, nor was there
+any change in the colour of the water or the strength of the current.
+
+Date Palm Island lay a day's journey by canoe above the mangrove swamp.
+The name of Date Palm Island was given by Edward Harden the moment he
+set eyes upon the little rocky islet in mid-stream, upon which stood a
+solitary tree.  It was the custom of this explorer to name the natural
+features he discovered; and it was he who was also responsible for the
+names of other places of which, in course of time, we shall have
+occasion to tell, such as Solitude Peak and Hippo Pool.
+
+In addition to the Loango boys who composed the crews, the party now
+included M'Wane, the Fan chief, and four of his most trusted warriors.
+It was on the occasion of this journey on the Upper Kasai that Edward
+Harden made one of the mistakes of his life.  M'Wane travelled in the
+first canoe with themselves, and his four warriors in the other canoe
+which followed.  Both Harden and Crouch had a natural wish to keep the
+object of their journey a secret.  Neither knew that one of the boys in
+the second canoe could both speak and understand the Fan dialect, and it
+was he who told his companions that the Hidden River was their
+destination.  Still, no one suspected that the secret was out, until
+they had unloaded all their supplies and ammunition at Date Palm Island,
+where they decided to form their base.
+
+In this district, the general course of the Kasai lies due south-west.
+From the mangrove swamp on the southern bank, the valley of the Hidden
+River lies, more or less, in a direct line from north to south.  M'Wane
+had known the Hidden River in the old days, before the Fire-gods came
+into the country.  He said that there was a good portage across country
+from Date Palm Island to Hippo Pool, which was the nearest accessible
+point on the Hidden River above the rapids that flowed through the Long
+Ravine.
+
+They decided to leave one canoe on the island, in charge of four of the
+Loango boys.  The remaining natives could be employed in carrying the
+lighter of the two canoes, and a sufficiency of stores and ammunition
+across country to the Hidden River.  The indignation of Crouch may be
+imagined when the boys struck in a body and refused to undertake the
+portage.
+
+Edward used his greatest powers of persuasion; Crouch threatened and
+abused.  They answered that word of the Fire-gods had been carried even
+as far as the Coast, that they had never bargained to sell their lives
+to the Englishmen.  None the less, they expressed their willingness to
+remain upon the island until the party returned.
+
+Crouch turned to M'Wane.
+
+"And do you, too, go back?" he asked.
+
+The chief shook his head, and smiled.
+
+"My men and I will stand by the White Wizard," he answered.  "A Fan
+holds to his word."
+
+Crouch slapped the chief upon the back, and then went on to explain to
+the boys that if they helped with the portage, they would not be asked
+to embark on the Hidden River, but could return to Date Palm Island.
+After some discussion, they agreed to this; and as much time had already
+been wasted, Harden and Crouch decided not to start until daybreak the
+following day.
+
+According to Edward Harden's diary, the portage lasted two weeks and
+three days.  They were obliged to force their way through virgin forest.
+It was frequently necessary to cut down with axes and billhooks the
+tangled undergrowth and creepers that wove themselves amid the trunks of
+the trees, in order to make room for the canoe to pass.  Some days they
+did not cover more than a mile, though they were working from dawn to
+sunset.  But towards the end of the journey the passage became easier,
+by reason of the fact that they found a watercourse, which they
+followed, until they finally came forth into the sunlight at Hippo Pool.
+
+When they first looked upon it, it was as if, indeed, there were an air
+of mystery in the valley of the Hidden River.  The silence that reigned
+upon its surface was intense.  The atmosphere seemed several degrees
+hotter even than the forest.  The name Hippo Pool was given because,
+immediately on their arrival, Edward Harden, who was leading, shot a
+hippopotamus which he found asleep upon the bank.  They were glad enough
+of the meat for the natives, who would require provisions on their
+journey back to the Kasai.
+
+The next morning the Loango boys left in a body.  They were glad enough
+to be off.  And soon afterwards the canoe shot out from the bank.
+
+Their progress was painfully slow.  M'Wane and his four followers worked
+continually with the paddles, assisted in turn by Harden and his nephew.
+As for Crouch, he was always the look-out man.  His only eye was quick
+and keen as that of a falcon.
+
+Hour by hour they toiled into the Unknown, until the sweat poured from
+their faces and their hands were blistered in the sun; and the blisters
+would not heal, because of the insects that followed in a crowd.  The
+jungle grew more magnificent and wild as the river narrowed.  The
+character of the trees changed, and of the undergrowth--all became more
+luxuriant, more profuse, until they found themselves in a land where
+Nature was something fantastic and superb.
+
+It was on the third day after they had set out from Hippo Pool that they
+turned an angle of the river, and came on a sudden into a cup-shaped
+valley where there was but little vegetation.  A circle of granite hills
+stood all around them, and in the centre on either side of the river was
+a plain of sand.  Crouch turned in the bows and pointed to something
+ahead, and at that moment the sharp crack of a rifle echoed in the
+stillness, and a bullet sped into the water a few inches from the bows
+of the canoe.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V--THE STOCKADE
+
+
+As the bullet cut into the water Crouch sprang upright in the canoe. His
+thin form trembled with eagerness.  The man was like a cat, inasmuch as
+he was charged with electricity.  Under his great pith helmet the few
+hairs which he possessed stood upright on his head. Edward Harden leaned
+forward and picked up his rifle, which he now held at the ready.
+
+By reason of the fact that the river had suddenly widened into a kind of
+miniature lake, the current was not so swift.  Hence, though M'Wane and
+his Fans ceased to paddle, the canoe shot onward by dint of the velocity
+at which they had been travelling.  Every moment brought them nearer and
+nearer to the danger that lay ahead.
+
+In order to relate what followed, it is necessary to describe the scene.
+We have said that the wild, impenetrable jungle had ceased abruptly, and
+they found themselves surrounded by granite hills, in the centre of
+which lay a plain of glaring sand.  To their left, about a hundred paces
+from the edge of the river, was a circular stockade.  A fence had been
+constructed of sharp-pointed stakes, each about eight feet in height.
+There was but a single entrance into this stockade--a narrow gate, not
+more than three feet across, which faced the river. Up-stream, to the
+south, the granite hills closed in from either bank, so that the river
+flowed through a gorge which at this distance seemed particularly
+precipitous and narrow.  Midway between the stockade and the gorge was a
+kraal, or large native village, surrounded by a palisade.  Within the
+palisade could be seen the roofs of several native huts, and at the
+entrance, seated cross-legged on the ground, was the white figure of an
+Arab who wore the turban and flowing robes by which his race is
+distinguished, from the deserts of Bokhara to the Gold Coast.  Before
+the stockade, standing at the water's edge, was the figure of a European
+dressed in a white duck suit.  He was a tall, thin man with a black,
+pointed beard, and a large sombrero hat.  Between his lips was a
+cigarette, and in his hands he held a rifle, from the muzzle of which
+was issuing a thin trail of smoke.
+
+As the canoe approached, this man grew vastly excited, and stepped into
+the river, until the water had risen to his knees.  There, he again
+lifted his rifle to his shoulder.
+
+"Put that down!" cried Crouch.  "You're a dead man if you fire."
+
+The man obeyed reluctantly, and at that moment a second European came
+running from the entrance of the stockade.  He was a little man, of
+about the same build as Crouch, but very round in the back, and with a
+complexion so yellow that he might have been a Chinese.
+
+The man with the beard seemed very agitated.  He gesticulated wildly,
+and, holding his rifle in his left hand, pointed down-stream with his
+right.  He was by no means easy to understand, since his pronunciation
+of English was faulty, and he never troubled to take his cigarette from
+between his lips.
+
+"Get back!" he cried.  "Go back again!  You have no business here."
+
+"Why not?" asked Crouch.
+
+"Because this river is mine."
+
+"By what right?"
+
+"By right of conquest.  I refuse to allow you to land."
+
+The canoe was now only a few yards from the bank.  The second man--the
+small man with the yellow face--turned and ran back into the stockade,
+evidently to fetch his rifle.
+
+"I'm afraid," said Crouch, "with your permission or without, we intend
+to come ashore."
+
+Again the butt of the man's rifle flew to his shoulder.
+
+"Another yard," said he, "and I shoot you dead."
+
+He closed an eye, and took careful aim.  His sights were directed
+straight at Crouch's heart.  At that range--even had he been the worst
+shot in the world--he could scarcely have missed.
+
+Crouch was never seen to move.  With his face screwed, and his great
+chin thrust forward, his only eye fixed in the midst of the black beard
+of the man who dared him to approach, he looked a very figure of
+defiance.
+
+The crack of a rifle--a loud shout--and then a peal of laughter. Crouch
+had thrown back his head and was laughing as a school-boy does, with one
+hand thrust in a trousers pocket.  Edward Harden, seated in the stern
+seat, with elbows upon his knees, held his rifle to his shoulder, and
+from the muzzle a little puff of smoke was rising in the air.  It was
+the man with the black beard who had let out the shout, in anger and
+surprise.  The cigarette had been cut away from between his lips, and
+Harden's bullet had struck the butt of his rifle, to send it flying from
+his hands into the water.  He stood there, knee-deep in the river,
+passionate, foiled and disarmed.  It was Edward Harden's quiet voice
+that now came to his ears.
+
+"Hands up!" said he.
+
+Slowly, with his black eyes ablaze, the man lifted his arms above his
+head.  A moment later, Crouch had sprung ashore.
+
+The little sea-captain hastened to the entrance of the stockade, and, as
+he reached it, the second man came running out, with a rifle in his
+hands.  He was running so quickly that he was unable to check himself,
+and, almost before he knew it, his rifle had been taken from him.  He
+pulled up with a jerk, and, turning, looked into the face of Captain
+Crouch.
+
+"I must introduce myself," said the captain.  "My name's Crouch.  Maybe
+you've heard of me?"
+
+The man nodded his head.  It appears he had not yet sufficiently
+recovered from his surprise to be able to speak.
+
+"By Christopher!" cried Crouch, on a sudden.  "I know you!  We've met
+before--five years ago in St. Paul de Loanda.  You're a half-caste
+Portuguese, of the name of de Costa, who had a trade-station at the
+mouth of the Ogowe.  So you remember me?"
+
+The little yellow man puckered up his face and bowed.
+
+"I think," said he, with an almost perfect English accent--"I think
+one's knowledge of the Coast would be very limited, if one had never
+heard of Captain Crouch."
+
+Crouch placed his hand upon his heart and made a mimic bow.
+
+"May I return the compliment?" said he.  "I've heard men speak of de
+Costa from Sierra Leone to Walfish Bay, and never once have I heard
+anything said that was good."
+
+At that the half-caste caught his under-lip in his teeth, and shot
+Crouch a glance in which was fear, mistrust and anger.  The sea-captain
+did not appear to notice it, for he went on in the easiest manner in the
+world.
+
+"And who's your friend?" he asked, indicating the tall man with the
+black beard, who was now approaching with Edward Harden and Max.
+
+"My friend," said he, "is a countryman of mine, a Portuguese, who has
+assumed the name of Caesar."  The half-caste had evidently not forgotten
+the insult which Crouch had hurled in his teeth; for now his demeanour
+changed, and he laughed.  "If Captain Crouch finds it necessary to
+meddle in our affairs," said he, "I think he will find his equal in
+Mister Caesar."
+
+Crouch paid no more attention to him than he would have done to a
+mosquito; and before the man had finished speaking, he had turned his
+back upon him, and held out a hand to the Portuguese.
+
+"I trust," said he, "you've expressed your gratitude to Ted Harden, who,
+instead of taking your life, preferred to extinguish your cigarette."
+
+"I have already done so," said Caesar, with a smile.  "I hope to explain
+matters later.  The mistake was natural enough."
+
+Crouch, with his one eye, looked this man through and through.  He had
+been able to sum up the half-caste at a glance.  Caesar was a
+personality that could not be fathomed in an instant.
+
+The man was not unhandsome.  His figure, in spite of its extreme height
+and thinness, was exceedingly graceful.  The hair of his moustache and
+beard, and as much as was visible beneath the broad-brimmed sombrero
+hat, was coal-black, and untouched with grey.  His features were
+aquiline and large.  He bore some slight resemblance to the well-known
+figure of Don Quixote, except that he was more robust.  The most
+remarkable thing about him was his jet-black, piercing eyes.  If there
+was ever such a thing as cruelty, it was there.  When he smiled, as he
+did now, his face was even pleasant: there was a wealth of wrinkles
+round his eyes.
+
+"It was a natural and unavoidable mistake," said he.  "I have been
+established here for two years.  You and your friends are, perhaps,
+sufficiently acquainted with the rivers to know that one must be always
+on one's guard."
+
+Unlike de Costa, he spoke English with a strong accent, which it would
+be extremely difficult to reproduce.  For all that, he had a good
+command of words.
+
+"And now," he went on, "I must offer you such hospitality as I can.  I
+notice the men in your canoes are Fans.  I must confess I have never
+found the Fan a good worker.  He is too independent.  They are all
+prodigal sons."
+
+"I like the Fan," said Edward.
+
+"Each man to his taste," said Caesar.  "In the kraal yonder," he
+continued, pointing to the village, "I have about two hundred boys. For
+the most part, they belong to the Pambala tribe.  As you may know, the
+Pambala are the sworn enemies of the Fans.  You are welcome to stay with
+me as long as you like, but I must request that your Fans be ordered to
+remain within the stockade.  Will you be so good as to tell them to
+disembark?"
+
+"As you wish," said Edward.
+
+At Crouch's request, Max went back to the canoe, and returned with
+M'Wane and the four Fans.  Not until they had been joined by the natives
+did Caesar lead the way into the stockade.
+
+They found themselves in what, to all intents and purposes, was a fort.
+Outside the walls of the stockade was a ditch, and within was a
+banquette, or raised platform, from which it was possible for men to
+fire standing.  In the centre of the enclosure were three or four
+huts--well-constructed buildings for the heart of Africa, and
+considerably higher than the ordinary native dwelling-place.  Before the
+largest hut was a flag-staff, upon which a large yellow flag was
+unfurled in the slight breeze that came from the north.
+
+It was into this hut that they were conducted by the Portuguese.  As the
+Englishman entered, a large dog, which had been lying upon the floor,
+got up and growled, but lay down again on a word from Caesar. The
+interior of the hut consisted of a single room, furnished with a bed, a
+table and several chairs, all of which had been constructed of wood cut
+in the forest.  As there were only four chairs, the half-caste, de
+Costa, seated himself on a large chest, with three heavy padlocks, which
+stood against the wall farthest from the door.
+
+Caesar crossed to a kind of sideboard, made of packing-cases, whence he
+produced glasses and a bottle of whisky.  He then drew a jug of water
+from a large filter.  These he placed upon the table.  He requested his
+guests to smoke, and passed round his cigarette-case.  His manner, and
+the ease with which he played the host, suggested a man of breeding.
+Both Edward Harden and his nephew accepted cigarettes, but Crouch filled
+his pipe, and presently the hut was reeking, like an ill-trimmed lamp,
+of his atrocious "Bull's Eye Shag."
+
+"I owe you an apology," said Caesar; "an apology and an explanation. You
+shall have both.  But, in the first place, I would like to hear how it
+was that you came to discover this river?"
+
+It was Edward Harden who answered.
+
+"We were shooting big game on the Kasai," said he, "when we heard
+mention of the 'Hidden River.'"
+
+"Who spoke of it?" said Caesar.  His dark eyes were seen to flash in the
+half-light in the hut.
+
+"A party of Fans," said Edward, "with whom we came in contact.  We
+persuaded them to carry our canoe across country.  We embarked upon the
+river three days ago, and paddled up-stream until this afternoon, when
+we sighted your camp, and nearly came to blows.  That's all."
+
+Caesar leaned forward, with his arms folded on the table, bringing his
+dark face to within a few inches of the cigarette which Edward held in
+his lips.
+
+"Were you told anything," said he, in a slow, deliberate voice; "were
+you told anything--of us?"
+
+Edward Harden, being a man of six foot several inches, was one who was
+guileless in his nature.  He was about to say that the Fans had spoken
+of the "Fire-gods," when an extraordinary occurrence came to pass.
+
+Crouch sprang to his feet with a yell, and placing one foot upon the
+seat of the chair upon which he had been sitting, pulled up his trousers
+to the knee.  In his hand he held a knife.  All sprang to their feet.
+
+"What is it?" they demanded, in one and the same breath.
+
+"A snake," said Crouch.  "I'm bitten in the leg."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI--CROUCH ON THE WAR-PATH
+
+
+Both Caesar and Edward hastened to the captain's side.  Sure enough,
+upon the calf of his leg, were two small drops of blood, about a quarter
+of an inch apart, where the fangs of the reptile had entered.
+
+Crouch looked up at Caesar.  His voice was perfectly calm.
+
+"Where's the kitchen?" he demanded.
+
+The tall Portuguese appeared suspicious.
+
+"The kitchen is quite near at hand," said he.  "Do you want to go
+there?"
+
+"Yes," said Crouch.  "Lead the way.  There's no time to lose."
+
+They passed out and entered a smaller hut, from which a column of smoke
+was rising through a hole in the roof.  In the centre of the floor was a
+large charcoal brazier, at which a man was squatting in the
+characteristic attitude of the East.  Crouch lifted his eyebrows in
+surprise when he saw that this man was an Arab.
+
+"Tongs," said he in Arabic.  "Lend me a pair of tongs."
+
+The man, expressionless, produced the article in question.
+
+Crouch took a piece of charcoal from the brazier, that was white-hot,
+and, without a moment's hesitation, he thrust this upon the place where
+the poison had entered his flesh.  As he underwent that agony, his
+sallow face turned a trifle paler, his lips grew thinner, and his only
+eye more bright; but never a groan, or even a sigh, escaped him.
+
+At last he threw the charcoal back into the fire.
+
+"That's all right," said he.  "It isn't a pleasant remedy, but it's
+sure."  Then he turned to Caesar.  "I should like a little whisky," said
+he.  "I feel a trifle faint."
+
+He asked for Edward's arm to assist him on his way, and no sooner were
+they clear of the kitchen than he whispered in Harden's ear--
+
+"There's nothing to worry about," said he.  "I'm as right as rain.  I
+was never bitten at all.  But I had to stop you somehow, or you would
+have told that fellow what we heard of the Fire-gods.  Mind, he must
+know nothing."
+
+When they got back to the hut, Caesar gave Crouch half a tumblerful of
+neat whisky, which the captain drained at a gulp.  Needless to say,
+their efforts to find the snake proved fruitless.  Then Crouch again
+complained of faintness, and asked permission to lie down upon the bed.
+No sooner was he there than he closed his eyes, and soon afterwards was
+sound asleep--if one was entitled to judge by his heavy breathing. Once
+or twice he snored.
+
+But, already, we have seen enough of Captain Crouch to know that, in his
+case, it would not be wise to go by appearances.  He was no more asleep
+than he had been throughout those long hours when he had kept watch in
+the bows of the canoe.
+
+Caesar motioned to Edward to be seated at the table, and Max took the
+chair which had been formerly occupied by Crouch.  De Costa remained
+seated upon the chest.
+
+"Let me see," said Caesar; "of what were we speaking?  Ah, yes, I
+remember.  I was asking if the natives had made any mention of us."
+
+"We asked many questions," said Harden, "but they knew little or nothing
+of the Hidden River.  For some reason or other, they seemed to fear it."
+
+Caesar regarded Edward intently for a few seconds; and then, seeming
+satisfied, he shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"Their minds are filled with superstitions," said he.  "And now it
+remains for me to explain myself.  I came to this valley two years ago.
+I had already journeyed some distance up the Congo, in search of ivory.
+I discovered that in the jungle in this valley elephants abound;
+moreover, these elephants are finer than any others I have ever seen in
+any part of Africa, even those of the East Coast, whose tusks are stored
+at Zanzibar.  I made this place my headquarters.  I regard the whole
+country as my own happy hunting-ground.  I naturally resent all
+new-comers, especially Europeans.  I look upon them as trespassers.  Of
+course, I have no right to do so; I know that quite well.  But you must
+understand that here, in the heart of Africa, the laws of civilized
+nations hardly apply.  To all intents and purposes this country is my
+own.  In the kraal yonder I have two hundred of the finest elephant
+hunters between the Zambesi and the Congo.  I pay them well.  I have
+already a great store of ivory.  In another two years I hope to retire
+to Portugal, a wealthy man.  That is all my story."
+
+"How do you kill your elephants?" asked Edward.  The hunting of big game
+was the foremost interest of his life.
+
+Caesar smiled.
+
+"You will not approve of my methods," said he.  "You are a sportsman; I
+am only a trader.  I send my natives into the jungle, in the direction
+in which a herd of elephants has been located.  These fellows creep on
+all-fours amid the undergrowth.  They are as invisible as snakes.  They
+are armed with long knives, with which they cut the tendons of the
+elephants' hind-legs, just below the knee.  If an elephant tries to walk
+after that tendon has been severed, it falls to the ground and breaks
+its leg.  The great beasts seem to know this, for they remain motionless
+as statues.  When all the finest tuskers have been thus disposed of, I
+come with my rifle and shoot them, one after the other. Thus it is that
+I have collected a great store of tusks."
+
+Edward Harden made a wry face.
+
+"I have heard of that manner of hunting," said he.  "It is much
+practised on the East Coast.  I consider it barbarous and cruel."
+
+Caesar smiled again.
+
+"I told you," said he, "you would not approve."
+
+Harden swung round in his chair, with a gesture of disgust.
+
+"I would like to see the ivory trade stopped," he cried, in a sudden
+flood of anger, very rare in a man naturally prone to be unexcitable and
+mild.  "I regard the elephant as a noble animal--the noblest animal that
+lives.  I myself have shot many, but the beast has always had a chance,
+though I will not deny the odds were always heavily on me. Still, when I
+find myself face to face with a rogue elephant, I know that my life is
+in danger.  Now, there is no danger in your method, which is the method
+of the slaughter-house.  At this rate, very soon there will be no
+elephants left in Africa."
+
+"I'm afraid," said Caesar, with a shrug of the shoulders, "we would
+never agree, because you're a sportsman and I'm a trader.  In the
+meantime, I will do all I can to make you comfortable during your stay
+at Makanda."
+
+"Is that the name of this place?" asked Max.
+
+"Yes," said the Portuguese.  "There was a native village when I came
+here--just a few scattered huts.  The natives called the place Makanda,
+which, I believe, means a crater.  The hills which surround us are
+evidently the walls of an extinct volcano.  But, to come back to
+business, I can provide a hut for your Fan attendants, but they must be
+ordered not to leave the stockade.  You have noticed, perhaps, that I
+employ a few Arabs.  I am fond of Arabs myself; they are such excellent
+cooks.  An Arab is usually on sentry at the gate of the stockade.  That
+man will receive orders to shoot any one of the Fans who endeavours to
+pass the gate.  These methods are rather arbitrary, I admit; but in the
+heart of Africa, what would you have?  It is necessary to rule with an
+iron hand.  Were I to be lax in discipline, my life would be in danger.
+Also, I must request you and your friends not to leave the stockade,
+unattended by either de Costa or myself.  The truth is, there are
+several hostile tribes in the neighbourhood, and it is only with the
+greatest difficulty that I can succeed in maintaining peace."
+
+"I'm sure," said Harden, "you will find us quite ready to do anything
+you wish.  After all, the station is yours; and in this country a man
+makes his own laws."
+
+"That is so," said Caesar; and added, "I'm responsible to no one but
+myself."
+
+This man had an easy way of talking and a plausible manner that would
+have deceived a more acute observer than Edward Harden.  As he spoke he
+waved his hand, as if the whole matter were a trifle.  He ran on in the
+same casual fashion, with an arm thrown carelessly over the back of his
+chair, sending the smoke of his cigarette in rings towards the ceiling.
+
+"Most of us come to Africa to make money," said he; "and as the climate
+is unhealthy, the heat unbearable, and the inhabitants savages, we
+desire to make that money as quickly as possible, and then return to
+Europe.  That is my intention.  For myself, I keep tolerably well; but
+de Costa here is a kind of living ague.  He is half consumed with
+malaria; he can't sleep by night, he lies awake with chattering teeth.
+Sometimes his temperature is so high that his pulse is racing.  At other
+times he is so weak that he is unable to walk a hundred paces. He looks
+forward to the day when he shakes the dust of Africa from his shoes and
+returns to his native land, which--according to him--is Portugal,
+though, I believe, he was born in Jamaica."
+
+Max looked at the half-caste, and thought that never before had he set
+eyes upon so despicable an object.  He looked like some mongrel cur. He
+was quite unable to look the young Englishman in the face, but under
+Max's glance dropped his eyes to the floor.
+
+"And now," said Caesar, "there is a hut where I keep my provisions,
+which I will place at your disposal."
+
+At that he went outside, followed by the two Hardens.  De Costa remained
+in the hut.  Crouch was still asleep.
+
+Caesar called the Arab from the kitchen, and, assisted by this man and
+the five Fans, they set to work to remove a number of boxes from the hut
+in which it was proposed that the three Englishmen should sleep.
+Blankets were spread upon the ground.  The tall Portuguese was most
+solicitous that his guests should want for nothing.  He brought candles,
+a large mosquito-net, and even soap.
+
+Supper that evening was the best meal which Max had eaten since he left
+the sea-going ship at Banana Point on the Congo.  The Portuguese was
+well provided with stores.  He produced several kinds of vegetables,
+which, he said, he grew at a little distance from the stockade.  He had
+also a great store of spirits, being under the entirely false impression
+that in tropical regions stimulants maintain both health and physical
+strength.
+
+After supper, Caesar and Captain Crouch, who had entirely recovered from
+his faintness, played ecarte with an exceedingly dirty pack of cards.
+And a strange picture they made, these two men, the one so small and
+wizened, the other so tall and black, each coatless, with their
+shirt-sleeves rolled to the elbow, fingering their cards in the
+flickering light of a tallow candle stuck in the neck of a bottle.
+Crouch knew it then--and perhaps Caesar knew it, too--that they were
+rivals to the death, in a greater game than was ever played with cards.
+
+They went early to bed, thanking Caesar for his kindness.  Before he
+left the hut, Edward Harden apologized for his rudeness in finding fault
+with the trader's method of obtaining ivory.
+
+"It was no business of mine," said he.  "I apologize for what I said."
+
+No sooner were the three Englishmen in their hut, than Crouch seized
+each of his friends by an arm, and drew them close together.
+
+"Here's the greatest devilry you ever heard of!" he exclaimed.
+
+"How?" said Edward.  "What do you mean?"
+
+"As yet," said Crouch, "I know nothing.  I merely suspect.  Mark my
+words, it'll not be safe to go to sleep.  One of us must keep watch."
+
+"What makes you suspicious?" asked Max.  Throughout this conversation
+they talked in whispers.  Crouch had intimated that they must not be
+overheard.
+
+"A thousand things," said Crouch.  "In the first place, I don't like the
+look of Arabs.  There's an old saying on the Niger, 'Where there's an
+Arab, there's mischief.'  Also, he's got something he doesn't wish us to
+see.  That's why he won't let us outside the stockade.  Besides,
+remember what the natives told us.  The tribes the whole country round
+stand in mortal fear of this fellow, and they don't do that for nothing.
+The Fans are a brave race, and so are the Pambala.  And do you remember,
+they told us that every evening there's thunder in the valley which
+shakes the earth?  No, he's up to no good, and I shall make it my
+business to find out what his game is."
+
+"Then you don't believe that he's an ivory trader?" asked Max.
+
+"Not a word of it!" said Crouch.  "Where's the ivory?  He talks of this
+store of tusks, but where does he keep it?  He says he's been here for
+two years.  In two years, by the wholesale manner in which he has been
+killing elephants, according to his own account, he should have a pile
+of ivory ten feet high at least.  And where is it?  Not in a hut; not
+one of them is big enough.  I suppose he'll ask us to believe that he
+keeps it somewhere outside the stockade."
+
+"I never thought of that," said Harden, tugging the ends of his
+moustache.  "I wonder what he's here for."
+
+"So do I," said Crouch.
+
+Soon after that, at Crouch's request, Harden and Max lay down upon their
+blankets, and were soon fast asleep.  As for the captain, he also lay
+down, and for more than an hour breathed heavily, as if in sleep. Then,
+without a sound, he began to move forward on hands and knees across the
+floor of the hut.
+
+When he reached the door he came into the moonlight, and had there been
+any one there to see, they would have noticed that he carried a
+revolver, and there was a knife between his teeth.
+
+As quick as a lizard he glided into the shade beneath the walls of the
+hut.  There he lay for some minutes, listening, with all his senses
+alert.
+
+This man had much in common with the wild beasts of the forests.  He was
+quick to hear, quick to see; it seemed as if he even had the power to
+scent danger, as the reed-buck or the buffalo.
+
+His ears caught nothing but the varied sounds of wild, nocturnal life in
+the jungle.  The stockade was not more than a hundred paces distant from
+the skirting of the forest.  Somewhere near at hand a leopard growled,
+and a troop of monkeys, frightened out of their wits, could be heard
+scrambling through the branches of the trees.  Farther away, a pair of
+lions were hunting; there is no sound more terrible and haunting than
+the quick, panting noise that is given by this great beast of prey as it
+follows upon the track of an antelope or deer. Then, far in the
+distance, there was a noise, so faint as to be hardly audible, like the
+beating of a drum.  Crouch knew what it was.  Indeed, in these matters
+there was little of which he was ignorant.  It was a great gorilla,
+beating its stomach in passion in the darkness.  And that is a sound
+before which every animal that lives in the jungle quails and creeps
+away into hiding; even the great pythons slide back into the depths of
+silent, woodland pools.
+
+But it was not to the forest that Crouch's ear was turned.  He was
+listening for a movement in the hut in which slept the Portuguese
+trader, who went by the name of Caesar.  After a while, seeming
+satisfied, he crawled on, in absolute silence, in the half-darkness,
+looking for all the world like some cruel four-footed beast that had
+come slinking from out of the jungle.
+
+He reached the door of the hut, and crept stealthily in.  Inside, he was
+not able to see.  It was some little time before his eye grew accustomed
+to the darkness.
+
+Then he was just able to discern the long figure of the Portuguese
+stretched upon his couch.  Half-raising himself, he listened, with his
+ear not two inches from the man's mouth.  Caesar was breathing heavily.
+He was evidently fast asleep.
+
+Still on hands and knees, as silently as ever, Crouch glided out of the
+hut.
+
+Instead of returning by the way he had come, he turned in the opposite
+direction, and approached another hut.  It was that which belonged to
+the half-caste, de Costa, whom he had met five years before in St. Paul
+de Loanda.
+
+Once again he passed in at the door, silently, swiftly, with his knife
+still in his teeth.
+
+This hut was even darker than the other, by reason of the fact that the
+door was smaller.  Crouch sat up, and rubbed his eyes, and inwardly
+abused the universe in general because he was not able to see.
+
+Suddenly there was a creaking noise, as if some one moved on the bed.
+Crouch was utterly silent.  Then some one coughed.  The cough was
+followed by a groan.  De Costa sat up in bed.  Crouch was just able to
+see him.
+
+The little half-caste, resting his elbows on his knees, took his head
+between his hands, and rocked from side to side.  He talked aloud in
+Portuguese.  Crouch knew enough of that language to understand.
+
+"Oh, my head!" he groaned.  "My head!  My head!"  He was silent for no
+longer than a minute; then he went on: "Will I never be quit of this
+accursed country!  The fever is in my bones, my blood, my brain!"
+
+He turned over on his side, and, stretching out an arm, laid hold upon a
+match-box.  They were wooden matches, and they rattled in the box.
+
+Then he struck a light and lit a candle, which was glued by its own
+grease to a saucer.  When he had done that he looked up, and down the
+barrel of Captain Crouch's revolver.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII--THE WHITE MAN'S BURDEN
+
+
+Before de Costa had time to cry out--which he had certainly intended to
+do--Crouch's hand had closed upon his mouth, and he was held in a grip
+of iron.
+
+"Keep still!" said Crouch, in a quick whisper.  "Struggle, and you die."
+
+The man was terrified.  He was racked by fever, nerve-shattered and
+weak.  At the best he was a coward.  But now he was in no state of
+health to offer resistance to any man; and in the candle-light Crouch,
+with his single eye and his great chin, looked too ferocious to
+describe.
+
+For all that the little sea-captain's voice was quiet, and even
+soothing.
+
+"You have nothing to fear," said he.  "I don't intend to harm you.  I
+have only one thing to say: if you cry out, or call for assistance, I'll
+not hesitate to shoot.  On the other hand, if you lie quiet and silent,
+I promise, on my word of honour, that you have nothing whatsoever to
+fear.  I merely wish to ask you a few questions.  You need not answer
+them unless you wish to.  Now, may I take my hand from your mouth?"
+
+De Costa nodded his head, and Crouch drew away his hand.  The half-caste
+lay quite still.  It was obvious that he had been frightened out of his
+life, which had served to some extent to heighten the fever which so
+raged within him.
+
+"Come," said Crouch; "I'll doctor you.  Your nerves are all shaken. Have
+you any bromide?"
+
+"Yes," said de Costa; "over there."
+
+He pointed in the direction of a shelf upon the wall, which had been
+constructed of a piece of a packing-case.  On this shelf was a multitude
+of bottles.  Crouch examined these, and at last laid hands upon one
+containing a colourless fluid, like water, and handed it to the patient
+to drink.  De Costa drained it at a gulp, and then sank back with a sigh
+of relief.
+
+Crouch felt his pulse.
+
+"You're weak," said he, "terribly weak.  If you don't get out of this
+country soon you'll die.  Do you know that?"
+
+"I do," said de Costa; "I think of it every day."
+
+"You don't wish to die?" said Crouch.
+
+"I wish to live."
+
+There was something pitiful in the way he said that.  He almost whined.
+Here was a man who was paying the debt that the white man owes to
+Africa.  In this great continent, which even to-day is half unknown,
+King Death rules from the Sahara to the veld.  A thousand pestilences
+rage in the heart of the great steaming forests, that strike down their
+victims with promptitude, and which are merciless as they are swift. It
+seems as if a curse is on this country.  It is as if before the advance
+of civilization a Power, greater by far than the combined resources of
+men, arises from out of the darkness of the jungle and the miasma of the
+mangrove swamp, and strikes down the white man, as a pole-axe fells an
+ox.
+
+De Costa, though he was but half a European, was loaded with the white
+man's burden, with the heart of only a half-caste to see him through.
+Crouch, despite the roughness of his manner, attended at his bedside
+with the precision of a practised nurse.  There was something even
+tender in the way he smoothed the man's pillow; and when he spoke, there
+was a wealth of sympathy in his voice.
+
+"You are better now?" he asked.
+
+"Yes," said de Costa; "I am better."
+
+"Lie still and rest," said Crouch.  "Perhaps you are glad enough to have
+some one to talk to you.  I want you to listen to what I have to say."
+
+Crouch seated himself at the end of the bed, and folded his thin,
+muscular hands upon his knee.
+
+"I am not a doctor by profession," he began, "but, in the course of my
+life, I've had a good deal of experience of the various diseases which
+are met with in these parts of the world.  I know enough to see that
+your whole constitution is so undermined that it is absolutely necessary
+for you to get out of the country.  Now I want to ask you a question."
+
+"What is it?" said de Costa.  His voice was very weak.
+
+"Which do you value most, life or wealth?"
+
+The little half-caste smiled.
+
+"I can see no good in wealth," said he, "when you're dead."
+
+"That is true," said Crouch.  "No one would dispute it--except
+yourself."
+
+"But I admit it!" said de Costa.
+
+"You admit it in words," said the other, "but you deny it in your life."
+
+"I am too ill to understand.  Please explain."
+
+Crouch leaned forward and tapped the palm of his left hand with the
+forefinger of his right.
+
+"You say," said he, "that you know that you'll die if you remain here.
+Yet you remain here in order to pile up a great fortune to take back
+with you to Jamaica or Portugal, wherever you intend to go.  But you
+will take nothing back, because you will die.  You are therefore
+courting death.  I repeat your own words: what will be the use of all
+this wealth to you after you are dead?"
+
+De Costa sat up in his bed.
+
+"It's true!" he cried in a kind of groan.
+
+"H'sh!" said Crouch.  "Be quiet!  Don't raise your voice."
+
+De Costa rocked his head between his knees.
+
+"It's true--true--true!" he whined.  "I know it.  I shall die.  I don't
+want this money.  I want to live.  I--I fear to die."  His voice
+trembled.  He was pitiful to see.
+
+"You shall not die," said Crouch; "I'll make it my business to see that
+you live.  I can't cure you, but I can keep you alive till we reach the
+coast.  There, one week on the sea will restore your health."
+
+"That's what I want," said de Costa, "the sea air.  Oh, for a breath of
+the sea!"
+
+"I'll take you down with us," Crouch ran on.  "I'll doctor you on the
+way.  Max Harden is a young man of science.  He has studied these
+things, and with his knowledge and my experience we'll pull you through.
+In three months from now, I promise you, you shall set eyes upon the
+ocean."
+
+"How glorious!" the poor man cried.  He looked into Crouch's face, and
+there were large tears in his eyes.
+
+"Stay," said Crouch; "I've not come here for philanthropic purposes. If
+I do this for you, you must do something for me.  Otherwise you can stay
+here--and die."
+
+"What is it you want?"
+
+Crouch bent forward and whispered in the man's ear, speaking distinctly
+and with great deliberation.
+
+"I want to know what's inside the padlocked chest that Caesar keeps in
+his hut.  Come, out with the truth!"
+
+On the instant the man sprang out of bed and seized Crouch by the
+wrists.  He was so little master of himself that hot tears were
+streaming down his cheeks.  He was shaking in every limb.  It was as if
+his neck was not strong enough to support his head, which swung round
+and round.
+
+"Not that!" he screamed.  "For pity's sake, not that!"
+
+"Come," said Crouch; "the truth."
+
+De Costa drew back.  "I daren't," said he.
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Because he--would kill me."
+
+"Look here, you have to choose between two men," said Crouch: "Caesar
+and myself.  Trust me, and I'll see you through.  You told me you had
+heard of me before.  You may have heard it said that I'm a man who
+sticks to his word through thick and thin, once it has been given."
+
+As Crouch said this he noticed a remarkable change that came on a sudden
+upon de Costa's face.  The man's complexion turned livid; his jaw
+dropped; his eyes were staring hard over Crouch's shoulder, in the
+direction of the door.
+
+Crouch whipped round upon his heel, his revolver in his hand, and found
+that he stood face to face with Caesar.
+
+"By Christopher," said he, "you're mighty silent!"
+
+"And may I ask," said Caesar, "what you are doing here?"
+
+Crouch made a motion of his hand towards de Costa, who had sunk down
+upon the bed.
+
+"This man's ill," said he; "in fact, he's dying."
+
+"He is always dying," said Caesar, "and he never dies.  He has the
+vitality of a monkey."
+
+"It doesn't seem to distress you much," said Crouch.  "Since you have
+lived together for two years, in a forsaken spot like this, I should
+have thought that you were friends."
+
+Caesar threw out his hand.
+
+"Ah," he cried, "we are the best friends in the world--de Costa and
+myself."
+
+He stood looking down upon Crouch, with his white teeth gleaming between
+his black moustache and his beard.  In that light it was difficult to
+see whether he smiled or sneered.  There was something mysterious about
+the man, and something that was fiendish.
+
+"And so," he ran on, "Captain Crouch has taken upon himself the duties
+of medical officer of Makanda?  I'm sure we are much obliged."
+
+"I have some experience of medicine," said the captain.
+
+"Indeed," said Caesar.  "And do you always operate with a revolver?"
+
+For once in his life, Crouch had been caught off his guard.
+
+"In this country," he said, "I am seldom without one."
+
+"You are wise," said Caesar.  "I myself am always prepared."
+
+With a man like Crouch, this kind of verbal sword-play could never last
+for long.  He was too much a creature of impulse.  He liked to speak his
+mind, and he hated and mistrusted this thin Portuguese as a mongoose
+hates a snake.
+
+"There are no laws in this country," said he, "and there are certain
+times when it's not a bad principle to shoot at sight.  In the civilized
+world, a man goes about with his reputation on the sleeve of his coat,
+and all men may know him for what he is.  But here, in the midst of
+these benighted forests, one must often act on instinct.  To kill at
+sight, that's the law of the jungle; and when men come here, they'd do
+well to leave behind them what they know of other laws respecting life
+and property and rights.  If I'm wise to carry a revolver, perhaps I'm a
+fool because I hesitate to use it."
+
+Here was a plain speaking, an outright honesty that quite disarmed the
+Portuguese.  If, hitherto, Caesar had held the upper hand, Captain
+Crouch had now turned the tables.  Whether warfare be carried on by
+words or amid the clash of arms, the victory lies with him who best
+knows his mind.  And Captain Crouch did that.  It was as if he had
+thrown a gauntlet at the tall man's feet, and defied him to pick it up.
+
+But Caesar was never willing to fight.  His was a quick, calculating
+brain, and he knew that the odds would be against him.  Listening
+outside the hut, he had overheard the greater part of the conversation
+which had taken place between Crouch and the fever-stricken half-caste.
+His secret, which he kept under lock and key in the strong chest at the
+foot of his bed, he was prepared to guard at every cost.  He saw now
+that Crouch was an adversary not to be despised.  It was necessary for
+him to take steps to seal de Costa's lips.
+
+Though the man no longer showed it in his face, Caesar was by no means
+pleased at the appearance of the Englishmen.  Though he was affable and
+polite, all the time he was scheming in his mind how to get rid of them
+as quickly as he could.  For the present, he decided to bide his time,
+hoping that, sooner or later, Fate might play into his hands.  Whatever
+happened, he was determined that they should not suspect him of any
+sinister intention, and on that account it behoved him to keep up an
+appearance of friendship.  He answered Crouch with all the pleasantry of
+manner he had at his command.
+
+"Captain Crouch," said he, "you are a man after my own heart.  I also
+respect the laws of the jungle.  I have shaken the dust of civilization
+from my feet.  It is only the strong man who can do so.  In you I
+recognize an equal."
+
+In his heart, Crouch stigmatized such talk as this as high-falutin'
+nonsense.  Still, he thought it unwise to hatch a quarrel with the man,
+and answered with a kind of grunt.
+
+"I suppose you're right," said he.
+
+"And what of our poor invalid?" said Caesar, turning to de Costa.
+
+Side by side, these two men, who were already sworn enemies in secret,
+bent over the prostrate figure of the half-caste.  De Costa lay with one
+arm hanging listlessly over the side of the bed.  His eyelids were
+half-closed, and underneath the whites of his eyes could be seen.  When
+a man sleeps like that, he is in a bad way.  The sands of life are
+running down.
+
+"He's asleep," said Crouch.  "That's all he wants.  The fever has
+subsided.  He'll be much better to-morrow.  Let us leave him."
+
+Together they went out.  The little sea-captain walked back to his hut,
+and threw himself down upon his blankets.  As for Caesar, he remained
+standing in the moonlight, with his long fingers playing in his beard.
+
+For some minutes he remained quite motionless.  The silence of the night
+was still disturbed by the strange sounds that came from out of the
+forest.  The man seemed plunged in thought.  Presently a soft, moist
+nose was thrust into the palm of his hand, and looking down, he beheld
+his great dog, which, unable to sleep by reason of the heat, had
+followed her master into the moonlight.
+
+"Gyp," said he, in a soft voice--"Gyp, old friend, how are we to get rid
+of these accursed Englishmen?"
+
+The dog looked up, and licked her master's hand.
+
+"Come, Gyp," said Caesar; "come and think it out."
+
+He entered his hut, and sat down upon the great, padlocked chest. There,
+he took the dog's head between his knees.  She was a Great Dane, and
+even larger and more powerful than the majority of her kind.
+
+"Do you know this, Gyp," said he: "de Costa can't be trusted?
+Fortunately, you and I, Gyp, know a way to make him hold his tongue."
+
+At that, the man laughed softly to himself.
+
+Meanwhile, in the other hut, the quick brain of Captain Crouch was not
+idle.  He had learnt much that night; but the secret was still unsolved.
+He had not been slow in discovering the weak point in Caesar's line of
+defence: the little half-caste could be induced to speak the truth.
+That the man was not an ivory trader, Crouch was fully convinced.
+Indeed, he could be no sort of trader at all, because there was no
+direct line of communication from Makanda to the Coast. Try as he might,
+Crouch could find no answer to the riddle; and in the end, like Caesar,
+he resolved to bide his time.
+
+Before he went to sleep, he awakened Max.
+
+"Max," said he, "I want you to keep watch till daybreak.  Keep your eyes
+open, and if any one enters the hut, give him 'hands up' on the spot."
+
+"Have you discovered anything?" asked Max.
+
+"Nothing," said Crouch, "except that de Costa's our friend's weak point.
+Given half a chance, I will find out the truth from him.  But Caesar
+suspects us, as much as we suspect him; and, from what I have seen of
+the man, I'm inclined to think that he'll stick at nothing.  We must
+never cease to be on our guard.  Keep on the alert, and wake me up if
+you see or hear anything suspicious."
+
+At that Crouch turned over on his side, and this time actually fell
+asleep.
+
+Max Harden sat with his back to the wall of the hut, his loaded revolver
+in his hand.  Through the doorway, above the rampart of the stockade, he
+could see the march of the tropical stars, as the Southern Cross dropped
+lower and lower in the heavens.  As it drew nearer to daybreak, the
+sounds of the jungle ceased.  Even in these latitudes there is a time,
+about an hour before the dawn, when all Nature seems hushed and still;
+the great beasts of prey retire to rest, foodless or with their
+appetites appeased--more often the first, and it is not before the first
+streaks of daybreak are visible in the eastern sky that the large minor
+world, of beast and bird and reptile, awakens to the day.
+
+Max obeyed his orders to the letter.  Hour by hour, he remained
+perfectly motionless, with every sense on the alert.  He was beginning
+to think that the fears and suspicions of Crouch were entirely baseless,
+when, on a sudden, the eternal stillness was broken by a shriek,
+piercing and unearthly, that was lifted from somewhere near at hand.
+
+Springing to his feet, he rushed forth from the hut.  And as he did so,
+the shriek was repeated, louder than before.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII--LEAVE TO QUIT
+
+
+Max had no difficulty in recognizing whence came these appalling sounds;
+for, as he hastened forward, they were repeated, again and again.  It
+was as if the night were filled with terror, as if some wild, tormented
+spirit had been let loose upon the stillness of the jungle.
+
+From the opened doorway of de Costa's hut a bright light shone forth,
+making a wide, diverging pathway to the foot of the stockade.  And in
+this pathway two shadows danced like fiends.  They were here, there and
+everywhere, whilst time and again that piercing shriek went forth.
+
+Max dashed into the hut, and there was brought to a standstill by the
+sight that he beheld.
+
+On one knee upon the floor, with an arm upraised as if in
+self-protection, was the half-caste, de Costa, with abject fear stamped
+upon every feature of his face.  Still yelping like a cur, flinching
+repeatedly for no ostensible reason, he looked up furtively, and into
+the face of the man who stood above him.
+
+This was Caesar, with the Great Dane snarling at his side.  His right
+arm was bare to the elbow, and in his hand he held a whip.  It was a
+cruel whip, if ever there were such a thing.  The handle was short, but
+the lash was long and tied in many a knot.
+
+"Drop that!" cried Max; and, without a moment's thought, he lifted his
+revolver and directed the muzzle full at the head of the Portuguese.
+
+At that the dog crouched low, as if about to spring, and filled the hut
+with a growl.
+
+What happened in the next brief moments cannot be told in a word.  The
+Great Dane sprang straight at the throat of the young Englishman, who
+was borne headlong through the doorway, to fall at full length upon the
+ground.  Simultaneously, Max's revolver went off, and the bullet flew
+high into the roof.  The next thing that he knew of was that both his
+hands were pressed tight into the throat of the huge beast that had
+pinned him to the ground.  Strive as he might, he was not able to rise.
+By sheer weight and strength Gyp held him down.
+
+[Illustration: "THE GREAT DANE SPRANG STRAIGHT AT THE THROAT OF THE
+YOUNG ENGLISHMAN."]
+
+Then the hound was lifted bodily into the air.  Max struggled to his
+feet, and beheld his uncle, whose great hands grasped the dog by the
+scruff of the neck.  Harden was holding the animal so that it stood
+upright on its hind-legs, and in that position Gyp was little shorter
+than he.  The dog was almost mad; it snarled like a wild animal, and its
+white fangs gleamed in the light.
+
+The voice of Caesar sounded sharp, but calm and collected, in the midst
+of this turmoil and confusion.
+
+"Gyp," he cried, "come here!"
+
+Edward let go his hold, and immediately the dog lay down, growling at
+the feet of her master.
+
+"I should like to know," said Edward, "the cause of this disturbance."
+
+"A private matter," said Caesar, "which concerns no one but de Costa and
+myself."
+
+But Max, though he had been overthrown by the dog, who had come upon him
+so unexpectedly, was in no mind to let the matter drop.  He was so hot
+in anger, and his indignation so great, that his lips trembled when he
+spoke.
+
+"Why did you strike that man?" he demanded, pointing to the half-caste.
+
+"That, I repeat," said the other, "is my affair--and his."
+
+"Understand," said Max, "that I make it mine.  When I entered this room,
+this poor wretch was on the floor, and you stood over him, whip in
+hand."
+
+For the first time since they had entered the stockade, they saw the
+real man under the calm, black mask that the Portuguese habitually wore.
+Setting his brows in a frown, he whipped round upon Max, and spoke in
+much the same manner as a cat spits at a dog.
+
+"You have yet to learn," he cried, "that in this place I am master.  I
+take orders from no one.  In Makanda my word is law.  This half-bred cur
+is my servant.  He knows it, as well as I.  He knows, also, that if he
+serves me faithfully he will be rewarded.  But if he dares to disobey my
+orders, he incurs the penalty I choose to inflict.  There is my answer;
+and I ask you, who are you to come here and presume to dictate to me?"
+
+"I have no more special mission," answered Max, "than any other who
+knows the difference between what is right and wrong.  You may be master
+here--for all I care you may be master of the whole of Africa--but I am
+not going to stand by and see one man flog another for any cause.  Raise
+that whip again on peril of your life."
+
+Max dared the man on purpose.  The fact was, he would have been glad
+enough to shoot.  As for Edward, though all this time he had stood by in
+silence, his finger had never left the trigger of his revolver. But,
+Caesar was not such a fool as to give either of them the chance they
+waited for.  He cast his whip upon the ground.
+
+"After this," said he, "I presume you will avail yourselves of my
+hospitality no longer.  I shall be glad to see your backs."
+
+"We shall be only too glad to go," said Max.
+
+"I put no obstacle in your way," said Caesar.  "It is almost daylight
+now."
+
+Max turned and left the hut, followed by his uncle.  Each asked himself
+the same question the moment he got out into the open air: where was
+Captain Crouch?
+
+Crouch must have heard the disturbance.  The shrieks of the half-caste,
+the growling of the dog and the firing of Max's revolver had been enough
+to have awakened the dead.  Yet he had never put in an appearance.  When
+they entered their hut they found him seated cross-legged on the floor,
+with his pipe between his teeth.  The atmosphere was tainted with the
+smell of Bull's Eye Shag.
+
+"Where have you been?" asked Edward.
+
+Crouch never deigned to reply, but, taking his pipe from his lips, asked
+a question himself.
+
+"Did you come to blows?" he said.
+
+"Practically," said Max, with a shrug of the shoulders.  "I found him
+thrashing that half-caste within an inch of his life.  I threatened him,
+and his dog flew at me, and, had it not been for Edward, would have torn
+me to bits.  We had a kind of an argument, and in the end he told us to
+clear out, which we said we were perfectly ready to do."
+
+Crouch returned his pipe to his mouth.
+
+"I was afraid of that," said he.
+
+"Why?"
+
+"I would like to have stayed here just a little longer.  I haven't
+probed the mystery yet.  When I saw you two run into de Costa's hut, I
+knew there was going to be trouble.  I knew you wouldn't come out for
+some minutes, and I had the chance of a lifetime."
+
+"Where did you go?" asked Harden.
+
+"Into Caesar's hut," said Crouch, winking with his only eye.  "I
+searched everywhere, but could find nothing.  As I told you before, this
+man has a secret, and that secret is locked up in his chest.  In Central
+Africa a man doesn't have a chest like that to keep his clothes in.
+It's iron-bound, and locked with three padlocks, and I suppose he keeps
+the key in his pocket.  It would have been sheer waste of time to have
+tried to open it.  I couldn't lift it.  It's as heavy as if it were
+filled with lead.  That's why I'm sorry we've got to clear out.  I mean
+to discover what that chest contains."
+
+"We've got to go," said Max.  "I wouldn't stay here another hour for all
+the secrets in the universe."
+
+"You're quite right," said Crouch.  "As the natives say on the Ogowe, 'a
+bad man's bread is poison.'  We'll sheer off at once."
+
+Edward went out, and returned in a few minutes with M'Wane and the four
+Fans.
+
+"M'Wane," said Crouch, still seated on the ground, "we're going back to
+Hippo Pool."
+
+M'Wane smiled as though he were glad to hear it.
+
+"That is good news," said he.  "I do not like this place."
+
+"Why?" asked Crouch, looking up.
+
+"We have been told," said M'Wane, "that if we try to leave the camp, we
+shall be shot by the Arab men."
+
+"Have you found out anything?" asked Crouch.
+
+M'Wane shook his head.
+
+"I have seen no one," said he.  "I know nothing.  To speak the truth, I
+am afraid."
+
+In the half-light of morning, the party left the stockade.  Their canoe
+was moored to the bank of the river, in the place where they had left it
+on the afternoon of the day before.  They clambered into their places:
+Max and his uncle to the stern seat, and Crouch to his old place in the
+bows.  Then the canoe shot out into mid-stream, and it was not until a
+month later that any one of them looked again upon the mysterious
+settlement of Makanda.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX--A THIEF BY NIGHT
+
+
+It will be remembered that it had taken two and a half days to make the
+journey to Makanda from Hippo Pool.  They returned in seven and a half
+hours, and even then the natives did little work with their paddles.
+
+The fact was that, from the granite hills that almost surrounded the
+station of the Portuguese, a number of small tributaries joined the
+Hidden River.  In consequence, a great volume of water flowed down to
+Hippo Pool.  The current became stronger every mile, since the banks
+grew nearer together, and several jungle streams joined forces with the
+river.  The largest of these was the tributary which flowed into Hippo
+Pool, along which had lain the latter part of the portage they had made
+from Date Palm Island on the Kasai.  Harden named this stream
+Observation Creek, for a reason which we are just about to explain.
+
+They camped on the east bank of Hippo Pool, at a place selected by
+Crouch.  Two courses lay open to them: they had either to remain here
+indefinitely, or, leaving their canoe on the Hidden River, to return to
+Date Palm Island by the route of their former portage.  Never for a
+moment had they had any intention of returning to the Kasai until they
+had discovered something more definite concerning the mystery of
+Makanda.  That night, seated around their camp-fire, by the waters of
+Hippo Pool, they held a council of war.
+
+With this place as their base, they were resolved to operate against
+Caesar's position farther up the river.  That afternoon, M'Wane had
+climbed to the top of a gigantic cocoanut-tree, some little distance
+from the right bank of Observation Creek.  Thence he had surveyed the
+surrounding country, and it was largely on the information supplied by
+M'Wane that Edward Harden drew up the sketch-map which proved so useful
+to them throughout the eventful days that followed.
+
+[Illustration: EDWARD HARDEN'S MAP OF THE COUNTRY OF THE FIRE-GODS.]
+
+From that tree-top the broad course of the Kasai had been visible, its
+gleaming waters showing here and there, white in the sunlight, to the
+north and to the east.  To the north-west, the course of the Hidden
+River lay comparatively straight to the mangrove swamp where it joined
+the larger stream.  The rapids began three miles or so below Hippo Pool,
+and there, according to M'Wane, the river was foaming white. Lower
+still, it entered the Long Ravine, where great bare cliffs rose upright
+on either side, and at the end of which was the waterfall of which the
+Fans had spoken.  On some days, when the wind was from the north, they
+could hear the dull roar of the cataract, like thunder in the distance.
+
+To the south-west, above the tree-tops of the forest, M'Wane had been
+able to observe the crest-line of the red granite hills which enclosed
+the station of Makanda.  Almost due south, from out of the midst of the
+forest, like a giant in a stubble-field, a great mountain towered into
+the sky.  On the northern slopes of this mountain the Fan chief had been
+able to discern a little village, lying like a bird's nest in a
+declivity, thousands of feet above the dark, inhospitable forest.  One
+night, by firelight, on the banks of Hippo Pool, Edward Harden drew the
+map on a piece of cartridge paper, though many of the features thus
+shown were not filled in until further facts had come to light.
+
+Their plan of campaign was evolved in the fertile mind of Crouch, though
+Max, and even Edward, made several suggestions which the little
+sea-captain was only too glad to accept.  They named the mountain
+Solitude Peak, and it seemed probable that it was in this direction that
+the creek found its source.
+
+They desired, if possible, to reach Makanda without the knowledge of
+Caesar and his Arabs.  They did not doubt that they would be able to
+overlook the stockade from some eminence in the eastern granite hill.
+Now, since it was two and a half days' journey up the river, it would
+take them months to force their way through the jungle to the south.
+They decided, therefore, to follow Observation Creek to its source,
+which, they hoped, would be somewhere in the vicinity of the mountain.
+There they might be able to glean some knowledge at the native village
+which M'Wane had seen in the distance.  At any rate, they would be able
+to survey the surrounding country, and take the most accessible route in
+the direction of Makanda.
+
+However, neither Crouch nor Harden was the man to undertake anything
+rashly.  Each knew that in Caesar they had an adversary who was not to
+be despised.  Before they set forth upon their expedition, they decided
+to secure more ammunition and supplies from Date Palm Island, and for
+this purpose it was decided that Edward Harden should return to the
+Kasai with M'Wane and the Fans.
+
+Accordingly, the next day the explorer set out, following the route of
+their old portage along Observation Creek, and thence through the jungle
+to the left bank of the great river opposite Date Palm Island. Edward
+thought that he would be able to persuade the Loango boys to carry the
+"loads" back to the base-camp at Hippo Pool.  Then, if they still feared
+to remain in the valley of the Hidden River, they could return to the
+Kasai.  That night, Crouch and Max were the only two who remained at the
+little camp at Hippo Pool.
+
+The next three days were by no means idle.  Game had to be shot in the
+forest; there was cooking to be done; they even carried the canoe ashore
+and repaired a small leak which had been sprung in her bows. Moreover,
+Crouch insisted that one or other of them should always be on watch.
+With a good fire burning throughout the night, they had little to fear
+from wild beasts.  Even the leopard, which is a far more courageous
+animal than the lion, must be well-nigh starving before it dares to
+approach a camp-fire.  What Crouch feared most was a raid on the part of
+Caesar.  He knew enough of the tall Portuguese to suspect that the man
+would not stay idle whilst the three Englishmen remained in the valley
+of the Hidden River.  In one of the many canoes they had seen tied up to
+the river bank at Makanda, Caesar could shoot down-stream in the space
+of a few hours.  There was therefore not an hour of the day or night
+that one or the other of them was not seated on the river-bank, rifle in
+hand, with his eyes turned towards the southern extremity of Hippo Pool.
+
+Three days passed, and nothing of importance occurred.  It was on the
+third night that something happened which was so much in the nature of a
+mystery as to be fully in keeping with the character of the whole valley
+and the rumours they had heard.  Though Captain Crouch had only one eye,
+that eye was as the eye of a lynx; and the matter in question is all the
+more worthy to relate, since the event first occurred by night, when
+Crouch himself was on guard.
+
+That day Max had shot his first buffalo, about half a mile from camp, on
+the southern side of Observation Creek.  The meat had been cut into
+steaks, and one of these was cooked that night for breakfast in the
+morning.  Crouch relieved Max on sentry at twelve o'clock, with the
+intention of keeping watch till daybreak.  As Max turned over to go to
+sleep, he distinctly remembered having seen the buffalo-steak on a tin
+plate, a few inches from the fire.  In the morning this steak was gone.
+
+Crouch had seen nothing.  He was prepared to swear that he had never
+been to sleep.  Throughout the morning the matter seemed to worry him a
+good deal.
+
+"I can't make it out," he said, talking to himself, as was his wont. "I
+don't believe any leopard would do it.  The beasts are terrified of
+fire.  A starving leopard might; but no leopard could very well starve
+in a valley like this, which positively abounds in game."  At various
+intervals throughout the day he gave expression to the same opinion.
+
+That night Max took the first watch, from seven o'clock to twelve.
+During that period never once did he relax his vigilance.  He sat, hour
+by hour, with the fire at his elbow, and his face turned towards the
+river.  He was thinking that it was nearly time to awaken Crouch, and
+had pulled out his watch, when he heard the sound of a breaking twig a
+few feet behind him.
+
+He turned sharply, and was just in time to discern the shadow of some
+great beast disappearing into the jungle.  His eyes shot back to the
+fire, and there he beheld to his amazement that once again their
+breakfast had disappeared.  He immediately awoke the little sea-captain,
+and told him what had happened.
+
+"Did it look like a leopard?" asked Crouch.
+
+"No," said Max, "I think it was a lion."
+
+Crouch got to his feet.
+
+"I don't believe it," said he.  "The king of beasts is the greatest
+coward I know.  The most courageous animal in the world is the African
+buffalo, and after him come the peccary and the wild boar.  All the cats
+are cowards, and the lion the biggest of all.  Once I was shooting
+buzzard on the Zambesi, when I came face to face with a lion, not
+fifteen paces from me.  I had no one with me, and was armed only with a
+shot-gun.  What do you think I did?"
+
+Max laughed.  "Ran for it?" he suggested.
+
+"Not a bit!" said Crouch.  "That would have been sheer folly; it would
+have showed the brute I feared him.  I just dropped down on all-fours,
+and walked slowly towards him."
+
+"Great Scott!" exclaimed Max, unable to restrain his admiration.
+
+"That lion," said Crouch, "looked straight at me for about three
+seconds, and then quietly turned round and walked away, swishing the
+flies from his body with his tail.  As soon as he thought he was out of
+sight, he broke into a gallop.  It was beneath his dignity, I suppose,
+to let me see he was frightened.  He had got to live up to his
+reputation."
+
+"Is that actually true?" asked Max.
+
+"As true as I'm standing here.  All lions are naturally frightened of
+anything they can't understand.  That particular animal couldn't make me
+out, didn't like the look of me; so he just walked away.  The lions in
+this valley can have had little or no experience of white men.  I
+therefore refuse to believe that our breakfast has been stolen by a
+lion.  Shall I tell you who I believe is the culprit?"
+
+"Who?" asked Max.
+
+"Gyp," said Crouch; "Caesar's dog.  Caesar himself could hardly have got
+here by now.  Yesterday afternoon I reconnoitred some way up the river,
+and saw no signs of a canoe.  But the dog could have found its way
+through the jungle.  It seems improbable, no doubt; but I can think of
+no better explanation."
+
+Indeed, this was the only solution of the matter, and they resolved to
+be upon their guard.
+
+The following day they determined to explore the rapids.  They were
+already acquainted with the river-valley between Hippo Pool and Makanda,
+but as yet they knew nothing of the country which lay between their camp
+and the mangrove swamp on the Kasai.  M'Wane, from the cocoanut-tree,
+had caught sight of the Long Ravine, which ended in the waterfall of
+which the natives had told them, the dull roar of which was frequently
+audible at Hippo Pool when the wind was in the right direction.  They
+did not expect Edward back for some days, and each was of the
+disposition that chafes under the restraint of inaction.
+
+Accordingly, soon after daybreak they launched the canoe, and taking
+with them three days' supplies and a quantity of ammunition, they shot
+down-stream to the north.  The descent of the river was easy enough.
+Throughout the journey Crouch kept his eye on the current.  Since this
+grew stronger and stronger as they progressed, he did not desire to go
+too far, knowing full well that the return journey would be by no means
+easy to accomplish.
+
+At a place where the river was exceedingly narrow, and the jungle on
+either bank even more dense and tangled than usual, they heard, on a
+sudden, the crashing of undergrowth in the forest, as if some great
+beast were flying for its life.  A moment later a leopard sprang clear
+from the river bank.  For a second the beast was poised in mid-air, its
+legs extended at full length, its ears lying back, its superb coat
+dazzling in the sunlight.  Then it came down into the water with a
+splash.
+
+For a few strokes it swam straight for the canoe.  Max carried his rifle
+to the shoulder and fired.  The beast was hit, for it shivered from head
+to tail, and then turned round and swam back to the bank whence it had
+come.  As it crawled forth, dripping, with its head hanging low between
+its fore-legs, the great snout of a crocodile uprose from out of the
+water, and the huge jaws snapped together.
+
+Crouch, who was steering, ran the canoe into the bank, and a moment
+later both he and Max, their rifles in their hands, had set out into the
+semi-darkness of the jungle.
+
+They had no difficulty in following the leopard's spoor.  The beast was
+badly wounded and very sick.  Every hundred yards or so it lay down to
+rest, and when it heard them approaching, rose and went on with a growl.
+
+Presently it led them into a marsh--which Edward Harden afterwards
+called Leopard Marsh--where they sank knee-deep in the mud.  There were
+no trees here.  In the middle of the marsh, lying in a few inches of
+water, was the wounded leopard, wholly unable to rise.
+
+"He's yours," said Crouch.  "I'll stand by in case you miss."
+
+Max lifted his rifle, took careful aim, and fired.  On the instant, with
+a savage screech, the leopard rose with a jerk.  For a moment it stood
+upon its hind-legs, rampant, its fore-feet fighting in the air. Then it
+came down, as a stone drops, and lay quite still.
+
+Max felt the flush of triumph that every hunter knows.  His blood
+tingled in his veins.  He was about to rush forward, to gloat upon his
+prize, when from somewhere near in the forest a shot rang out, and a
+bullet splashed into the moist ground at Max's feet.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X--THE BACK-WATER
+
+
+Crouch's voice was lifted in a shout.  "Run for your life!" he cried.
+
+Together they went floundering through the mire.  They had to run the
+gauntlet for a distance of little more than a hundred paces; but, by
+reason of the nature of the ground, their progress was necessarily slow,
+and before they had gained the cover afforded by the jungle, several
+bullets had whistled past them, and Crouch was limping badly.
+
+"Are you hurt?" asked Max.
+
+"Hit in the leg," said the little captain, as if it were a trifle.
+"There 're no bones broken, but I'm bleeding like a pig."
+
+"Let me look at it," said Max.  "The artery may be cut."
+
+They were now well screened by trees.  It was impossible that any one
+could come upon them unawares.  Max took his knife from his pocket,
+ripped open the seam of the captain's trousers, and examined the wound.
+The artery was untouched, but there was an ugly wound in the thigh,
+which had evidently been made by an enormously heavy bullet.
+
+"Caesar's elephant-gun," said Crouch.  "By Christopher, I'll make him
+pay for this!"
+
+"Are you sure of that?" said Max.
+
+"Yes," said Crouch.  "I caught sight of something white moving among the
+trees.  I knew at once that Caesar was there with his Arabs."
+
+Meanwhile, with quick fingers, Max was folding his handkerchief
+lengthwise for a bandage.
+
+"Wait a bit," said Crouch.  "I'll soon stop that flow of blood.  I've a
+special remedy of my own."  Whereupon he produced his tobacco-pouch; and
+before Max could stop it, he had taken a large plug of his vile, black
+tobacco, dipped it into a puddle of water, and thumbed the lot into the
+open wound, as a man charges a pipe.
+
+"Good gracious!" exclaimed Max, with memories of his hospital days.
+"You'll get septic poisoning!  You can't do that!"
+
+Crouch looked up.  There was a twinkle in his only eye.
+
+"So much for science," said he.  "When you get back to London, you can
+tell the doctors they're wrong.  If it amuses 'em to play with
+antiseptics--and they're fond of the smell of carbolic--they're welcome
+to do what they like.  As for me, I've used this remedy for twenty
+years, and I'm not inclined to try another."
+
+Max looked worried.  He was convinced that Crouch would die of
+blood-poisoning, and was beginning to wonder how, in that benighted,
+tropical forest, he was going to amputate the captain's leg.
+
+"Don't you fret," said Crouch, tying the bandage himself.  "Maybe, one
+brand of tobacco's not so good as another.  It's my belief that if they
+cut off your head, you could stick it on again with Bull's Eye Shag." By
+then he had got to his feet.  "Come on," said he; "this man won't let us
+get away if he can help it.  Follow me."
+
+So saying, he plunged into the jungle, and though he was now limping
+like a lame dog, it was all Max could do to keep up with him.
+
+Time and again he dived through what had looked like impenetrable
+thickets.  He seemed to know by instinct where to go.  He avoided
+quagmires.  He sprang over fallen trees.  He wormed his way through
+creepers, the branches of which were thick as ropes.
+
+Frequently he stopped to listen, and sometimes placed his ear to the
+ground.
+
+"They're after us!" he cried once.  He pulled out his compass and looked
+at it.  "We must get back to the canoe," he said.  "The river's to the
+east."
+
+Soon after they struck what to all intents and purposes was a path.  It
+was, in fact, the "run" of some wild animals, and doubtless led to the
+place where they were in the habit of drinking.  It was no more than two
+feet across; and about four feet from the ground the undergrowth from
+either side met in a kind of roof; so that they found themselves in a
+tunnel, along which, if they stooped sufficiently, they were able to
+make good headway.
+
+Suddenly Crouch, who was still leading, stopped dead, and held his rifle
+at the ready.  Max stopped, too, and listened.
+
+Something was moving in the jungle.  They heard distinctly a quick,
+panting sound, coming nearer and nearer.
+
+"There!" cried Crouch.  "Shoot!"
+
+He pointed down the tunnel, in the direction they had come.  Max turned,
+and beheld the head of a great beast thrust through the leaves of some
+creeping plant that bound the trunks of two trees together in a kind of
+lattice-work.
+
+It is unfortunate that the mind cannot retain a complete recollection of
+scenes that have momentarily impressed us.  Most of us, when asked to
+describe in every detail even the most familiar objects, fall very short
+of the mark.  How much more so must this be the case when we look upon
+something for no longer than a second, and then it is no more.
+
+Max will never forget that moment.  He remembers the main features of
+the scene, but there were a thousand and one details, which impressed
+him at the time, that he is no longer able to remember.
+
+The semi-darkness of the jungle; the moist ground whereon he stood,
+where multi-coloured orchids showed like little evil faces in the
+twilight; the tangled undergrowth; and in places, like peep-holes
+through which the daylight streamed, the shadows of the tall trees
+towering high above.  The scene, in its luxury and darkness, stood for
+all that is savage, for all that is Africa--the country where the white
+man ventures at his peril.  And if anything were needed to complete this
+strong suggestion of the wild, it was the great head and white, gleaming
+fangs of the unknown beast which, half invisible, seemed as if it were
+the unholy spirit of the place.  On the spur of the moment, Max lifted
+his rifle and fired.
+
+"Well done!" cried Crouch, who brushed past his elbow.
+
+A moment later they found themselves kneeling on either side of the
+prostrate and lifeless figure of Gyp.
+
+"There lies our thief," said Crouch; "and the thief's master 's not so
+far away."
+
+Max felt profoundly sorry in his heart that he had killed so magnificent
+a creature.  If the dog had hunted them, she had been told to do so by
+her master.  The only crime which could be laid to the account of the
+Great Dane was obedience to Caesar.
+
+They remained by the body of the dog no longer than a few seconds, and
+after that they pushed on upon their way, still following the course of
+the tunnel, or "run."  At length, when least they expected it, they
+found themselves at the water's edge, at the place where the rapids were
+inordinately swift.
+
+The water foamed and swirled upon its way, lashing the banks, forming
+little whirlpools in mid-stream, and bounding in waves over the trunks
+of trees which had fallen into the river.
+
+"Sit down," said Crouch.  "There's no hurry.  We may as well talk
+matters out."
+
+Max looked at his companion.  Now that they were in the sunlight, he was
+able to see Crouch's face.  He was alarmed to notice that the little
+captain looked haggard and drawn.  His lips were pressed together, as
+though he were in pain, and his only serviceable eye was puckered and
+screwed up.  Seeing Max's anxiety, he did his best to smile.
+
+"The Bull's Eye 's beginning to work," said he.
+
+"How do you mean?" asked Max.
+
+"After a bit it begins to smart.  It smarts for about three days, and
+then the blamed thing's healed.  Sit down, my boy.  This man Caesar
+annoys me.  I want to think it out."
+
+They seated themselves at the river bank, and Crouch kept an ear towards
+the jungle, in order to be warned if any one should approach.
+
+"What about the canoe?" asked Max.
+
+"It's up-stream," said the other, with a nod of the head.  "If we work
+our way along the bank, we can't miss it.  To tell you the truth, I want
+a rest; I feel queer.  And, besides, I want to think."
+
+Max asked him what was on his mind.
+
+"Caesar," said he.  "I should like to know how the man managed to get
+here."  Then he went on, thinking aloud, as was his custom.  "There may
+be a path through the jungle; but I doubt if even then he would have
+been able to come this distance on foot.  And yet his canoe never passed
+Hippo Pool, or we should have seen it--that's sure enough." Then, on a
+sudden, he slapped his knee.  "By Christopher," he cried, "I have it!  I
+remember!"
+
+"You remember what?" asked Max.
+
+"About half-way between the Pool and Makanda I remember seeing the
+entrance of a little back-water, on the left bank of the river.  That
+back-water probably rejoins the river somewhere about here.  It's all as
+plain as a pikestaff.  He has come north by the back-water, which
+accounts for us not having seen him pass through Hippo Pool.  The end of
+that back-water is either between here and the place where we left the
+canoe, or else farther down-stream.  Come," said Crouch, "we'll get the
+better of this rascal.  Perhaps, for once, Fortune will play into our
+hands."
+
+He struggled to his feet, but immediately turned pale, and was obliged
+to support himself against the trunk of a tree.
+
+"I feel mighty dizzy," he said.  "I've lost a deal of blood."
+
+"You had better stay here," said Max; "I'll work along the bank until I
+find the canoe, and then come back to you.  I don't like leaving you,
+but there's nothing else to be done.  Perhaps the canoe is not far
+away."
+
+"It's farther than you think," said Crouch; "that tunnel took us almost
+due north.  Besides, I can tell by the water.  The rapids are pretty
+strong; we can't be far from the ravine."
+
+"Will we be able to paddle against it, do you think?" asked Max.
+
+Crouch looked at the river.
+
+"Yes," said he.  "My arms are all right, though I've gone wrong in the
+leg.  You get off, and come back here as quickly as you can.  If you see
+Caesar, shoot."
+
+At that Max set off alone.  He soon found it impossible to make any
+progress on the actual bank of the river, since here, by reason of the
+moisture that was in the ground, the vegetation was so dense and tangled
+that a weasel would have found some difficulty in making any headway.
+He soon found, however, that by moving about thirty yards from the river
+bank, he could make his way southward with tolerable ease.  From time to
+time he forced his way to the river's edge, and looked both up-stream
+and down, to note if he could see any sign of the canoe.
+
+The sun was in the mid-heavens, and the heat intense.  The jungle was
+alive with sounds.  The evening before there had been a heavy shower of
+rain, and now the vapour rose like steam, and the moisture dropped from
+the trees.  To his left he could hear the roar of the rapids as the
+river plunged upon its way, and this served to guide him, making it
+possible for him to hold his course parallel to the river bank.  He was
+followed by a swarm of insects that droned and buzzed in his ears.  The
+perspiration fell from his forehead in great drops, and frequently he
+found himself caught and held fast by strong, hook-like thorns.
+
+Presently the forest opened.  It was like coming out of a darkened room
+into the light.  For a moment he was unable to see.  During that moment
+he fancied he heard a sound quite near to him--a sound of something that
+moved.  Looking about him, he discovered that he was standing in long
+reeds which reached almost to his chest.  To his right, the trees of the
+forest were extended in a kind of avenue, and at their feet was a
+narrow, swiftly-flowing stream.
+
+He had discovered Caesar's back-water.  Moreover, he had discovered
+Caesar's canoe, for there it was, its bows just visible, peeping through
+the reeds.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI--IN THE LONG RAVINE
+
+
+Max took in the situation at a glance.  If Caesar had come north from
+Makanda by way of the back-water, he had not passed their canoe on the
+Hidden River.  Two courses lay open to Max: he might cross the
+back-water in Caesar's canoe, and pursue his journey on foot; or he
+might take this canoe and go down to Crouch, about whom he was anxious.
+The latter was undoubtedly the wiser course to pursue.  In the heart of
+Africa, one canoe is as good as another; and, besides, by taking
+Caesar's canoe he would be paying off old scores.
+
+Having come to this conclusion, he looked about him for a suitable way
+by which to approach the canoe.  He had not taken one step in the right
+direction, when he discovered to his dismay that the reeds were growing
+in a bog, into which one leg sank deep before he was able to recover his
+footing on dry land.
+
+Still, he had every reason to be hopeful.  If the Portuguese and his
+party had disembarked at this place, there was clearly a way of getting
+into the canoe.  For all that, search as he might among the reeds, he
+could not find it, and at last he retired to the top of the bank.
+
+No sooner had he got there than he discovered that for which he had been
+looking.  A tall tree had fallen in the forest, and the roots were half
+in the water.  The canoe had been moored under the lee of this. On each
+side of the fallen tree the reeds grew so high that the trunk was half
+hidden from view.
+
+This tree formed a sort of natural pier, or landing-stage, along which
+it was possible to walk.  Max stepped upon the trunk, and walked towards
+the canoe.  Fearing that if he jumped into it he would knock a hole in
+the bottom, he lowered himself to a sitting position, and then
+remembered that he had not untied the painter at the bows.  He always
+looks upon his next action as the most foolish thing he ever did in his
+life.  He left his rifle in the canoe, and returned along the tree-trunk
+to untie the bows.
+
+It was then that he was seized from behind.  Some one sprang upon him
+from out of the reeds.  Two strong arms closed about his chest, and he
+was lifted bodily from off his feet.
+
+Putting forth his strength, he managed to twist himself round, seizing
+his adversary by the throat.
+
+He had been set upon by one of Caesar's Arabs.  The Portuguese himself
+was doubtless still searching in the jungle for Crouch and Max, and no
+doubt he had left this fellow in charge of his canoe.  Fortunately, the
+man was not armed; otherwise, Max would have been murdered.  As it was,
+he realized from the start that his life was in imminent danger.
+
+The man was possessed of the strength of all his race.  His arms, though
+thin, were sinewy, and his muscles stood out like bands of whip-cord as
+he strove to gain the upper hand.  Max was at a disadvantage, since he
+wore boots; whereas the Arab with his bare feet had the better foot-hold
+on the trunk of the fallen tree.  Still, even he could not retain his
+balance for long, with the young Englishman flying at his throat like a
+tiger.  The man had a beard, and Max, laying hold of this, forced his
+head backwards, so that they both fell together into the mud.
+
+During that fall Max's head struck the bows of the canoe.  For a moment
+he was dazed, half stunned.  He relaxed his hold of his opponent, and
+thereafter he lay at the mercy of the Arab.
+
+If we make an exception of the Chinese, the Arab is in all probability
+the cruellest man we know of.  He is possessed of an almost fiendish
+cunning.  His courage no one will dispute.  To his children he is a kind
+father; to those who know and understand him he is a good friend; he is
+one of the most hospitable men in the world.  But to his enemies he is
+relentless.  He has none of the barbarity of the savage races, like the
+Zulus or the Masai.  He is refined, even in his cruelty. Above all, he
+is a man of brains.
+
+Because of their craftiness, their cunning and their courage, the Arab
+races have existed from the very beginnings of time.  We read in the
+most ancient history that exists--in the history of the Pharaohs--of how
+the Egyptian towns in the valley of the Nile were walled against the
+incursions of the Arabs.  Long before the Persians came to Egypt, no man
+dared venture far into the desert because of the Bedouin bands. And that
+was when the world was in its cradle, when just the valleys of two
+rivers--the one in Asia and the other in Egypt--were able to produce the
+rudiments of the civilization of the future.  That was, perhaps, eight
+thousand years ago.
+
+Since then--and before then--the Arab has been feared.  The Negro races
+have bowed down before him, as dumb animals obey a superior
+intelligence.  In this, above all things, had the Portuguese been wise;
+he had formed his bodyguard of those men who for centuries have been the
+stern, implacable rulers of the great, mysterious continent.
+
+Max never lost possession of his senses; he was only dazed.  And, whilst
+in that condition, he was lifted in the strong arms of the Arab, and
+thrown bodily into the canoe.  When he was sufficiently recovered to
+endeavour to rise to his feet, he found that he was in mid-stream,
+drifting rapidly towards the river.  He looked about him for a paddle,
+and seeing none, turned his eyes to the bank.  And there stood the Arab,
+in his mud-stained garments, his white teeth showing in his swarthy face
+in a broad, unholy grin.  Moreover, in both hands, he held the paddles
+which he had taken from the canoe.
+
+Max recognized, as in a flash, that his fate was in the hands of a
+greater Power than himself.  He snatched up his rifle, and endeavoured
+to steer with the butt.  That had the effect of turning the canoe a
+little, but the current was too strong, and he was borne onwards.
+
+Twenty yards farther, and the canoe would turn the corner and shoot out
+into the river, where the rapids foamed and lashed.  At one time the
+bows brushed the tall reeds which were growing from the water.  Max,
+dropping his rifle, seized the only one of these that was within his
+grasp.  He held it for no longer than a second--an agonizing moment that
+seemed eternity--and then the reed was drawn out by its roots from the
+soft mud beneath the water.
+
+The canoe was launched into the rapids at a bound.  The current struck
+it sideways, and sent it round like a top.  For a moment it was like
+some blind, excited animal that knows not whither it means to go, and
+then it shot down-stream like an arrow from the bow.
+
+Max became aware of a kind of singing in his head.  This may have been
+caused by the blow which he had received, or else by the manner in which
+the canoe was now whirled round and round upon the tide.  The whole
+scene about him became blurred and indistinct.  The great, white-hot sky
+above him was like a sheet of fire.  He saw the trees on either bank fly
+past like armies of dark, gigantic spectres.  At such times as this, it
+is as if the brain becomes unhinged; we think of strange, and often
+foolish things, of no consequence soever.  Max saw a large dragonfly, of
+all the colours in the rainbow.  Even then he admired its beauty and
+coveted its wings.  The latter thought was natural, but the first was
+strange.  And the next thing he knew of was Crouch shouting and waving
+his arms upon the bank.  In a few moments Max had shot down the river to
+the place where he had left the little captain, though it had taken him
+more than two hours to force his way to the back-water through the
+density of the jungle.
+
+"Paddle!" Crouch was crying.  "Paddle for your life!  Bring her in to
+the bank."
+
+Just then the canoe was steady, shooting downward like a dart.  Max
+raised his hands to his lips and shouted back.
+
+"I've no paddles!" he cried.
+
+He saw Crouch break into the jungle.  The little sea-captain threw
+himself into the thickets like a madman.  Once again, only for an
+instant, Max caught sight of him.  He was fighting his way down-stream
+along the river bank like some ferocious beast.  The long arm of a
+creeper barred his way, and Crouch wrenched it from the tree to which it
+clung with a strength that was almost superhuman.  And then he was lost
+to view.
+
+Max looked down into the water, and saw at once that it would be
+impossible to reach the bank by swimming.  He had never been a strong
+swimmer, and in such a current as this no one could hope to prevail. On
+hands and knees, he crawled to the other end of the canoe, and
+immediately the thing swung round again, like a gate upon its hinges.
+
+He was now calm enough to think the matter out.  If he tried to swim to
+the shore the odds would be a hundred to one against him.  There was
+still a chance that the canoe might be driven into the bank.  He was
+determined to keep his head, to be ready to spring ashore, should the
+opportunity occur, and lay hold upon the first thing that fell to his
+reach.
+
+As he sat and waited, whilst the seconds flew, his heart sank within
+him.  The river narrowed.  Black, ugly-looking rocks sprang up, like
+living things in mid-stream, and before him opened the ravine.
+
+He saw its great walls rising, smooth and sheer, on either side of the
+river, and fading away in the distance, in the thick haze of the
+steaming, tropic day.  He was fascinated by the rocks.  He marvelled
+every instant that the canoe was not dashed to atoms.  The surface of
+the water was now white with foam, in the midst of which the black rocks
+glistened in the sunlight.  The canoe would rush towards one of these,
+as some swift beast of prey hurls itself upon its victim; and at the
+eleventh hour it would be whipped aside to go dancing, leaping on.
+
+The ravine was like one of the pits we read of in Dante's _Inferno_. Its
+walls were precipitous and white, glaring in the sunshine.  This was the
+gate that guarded the Hidden Valley.
+
+Max had a sensation of passing through a railway-cutting in an express
+train.  Little objects upon the steep banks--perhaps straggling plants,
+sprung from seeds which had fallen from above--were blurred and
+indistinct, flashing past like may-flies in the sunlight.  There was the
+same rattling noise in his ears, quite distinguishable from the roar of
+the water beneath his feet.
+
+For a moment he buried his face in his hands.  A hundred thoughts went
+galloping through his brain, not one of which was complete.  One gave
+place to another; there was no gap between them; they were like the
+films on a cinematograph.
+
+And then came a murmuring in his ears which was something apart from the
+rattling sound we have mentioned, and the loud roar of the rapids. He
+looked up, with a white face, and listened.  It seemed his heart had
+ceased to beat, and breathing consisted of inspiration only.  The
+murmuring grew into a roar, and the roar into a peal of thunder--the
+cataract was ahead!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII--WHEN HOPE DIES OUT
+
+
+As the canoe rushed forward, Max Harden recognized himself for lost; he
+realized there was no hope.  Resolved to meet his fate with all the
+fortitude he could command, he was yet sufficiently unnerved to stand
+upright in the canoe, which so rocked and swayed that he balanced
+himself with difficulty.
+
+It was then that he looked down upon what seemed certain death.  The
+river ended abruptly, as a cliff falls sheer to the sea.  The walls of
+the ravine were folded back to the east and to the west, and between,
+the water went over the cataract in one long, unbroken wave.
+
+Far below, extending to the north, was a broad plain, dotted here and
+there with trees which, in the haze of the tropic heat, appeared
+indistinct and restless, like weeds and pebbles at the bottom of deep,
+discoloured water.  Beyond that were the broad, gleaming waters of the
+Kasai, rolling north-westward to the Congo.
+
+Max looked up to the wide, burning sky.  In that mad, headlong moment he
+offered up a prayer.  The roar of the waters thundered in his ears. The
+canoe over-shot the crest of the cataract, as a swallow dips upon the
+wing.  Max was conscious of a bursting in his head.  There was a noise
+in his ears as if all chaos were rushing in upon him; it was as if he
+were an atom in the midst of an upheaval of the worlds.  And then he
+remembered no more.
+
+                                  ----
+
+Now that the Hidden Valley has been explored, and is even shown upon
+some of the large scale maps that have recently been issued by the Royal
+Geographical Society, those whose pleasure it is to study such matters
+are well acquainted with the formation of the country.
+
+The river finds its source in the unknown mountains to the south of
+Makanda; thence it flows due north towards the Kasai.  South of the
+waterfall the basin consists of a hard, impervious rock.  In the region
+of the jungle, this rock is covered by about ten feet of fertile
+subsoil: in some places a black, glutinous mud; in others, a red, loamy
+clay, containing a super-abundance of plant food.  At the Long Ravine
+the rock rises to the surface, in what geologists call an "out-crop."
+North of the cataract lies a great plain of mud.
+
+This phenomenon is merely what is found in every waterfall in the world.
+The river at the top of the falls flows over hard, impermeable rock; at
+the foot is found a softer stratum--such as chalk or clay--which is
+easily washed away.  Originally, far back in the centuries, there was no
+waterfall at all.  The river flowed on an even course from Makanda to
+the Kasai.  Very soon, however, the current swept away vast tracts of
+mud to the north of the waterfall.  This mud was carried by the Kasai to
+the Congo, and thence to the sea.  In consequence, a tract of country,
+many square miles in area, gradually descended lower and lower.  On the
+other hand, in the hard rock of the ravine, the river worked more
+slowly, so that, at last, the cataract was formed.
+
+At the foot of the falls is a great pool in which the water is
+exceedingly deep, and round which the current spends its fury in many
+whirlpools, such as may be seen in a mill-pond when the flood-gates are
+opened to their full extent.
+
+Having thus briefly explained the conformation of the country in the
+lower valley of the Hidden River, it is now necessary to return to
+Captain Crouch.  The effort made by the little wizened sea-captain upon
+that eventful morning is worthy to rank with anything that was ever told
+by the poets of classic days.  Had it not been for his indomitable will,
+he could never have accomplished a feat that was almost superhuman.
+Edward Harden had said that he believed that he was the only person whom
+Crouch cared for in the world.  That might have been true at the time,
+but certain it is that the captain thought well of Max, else he had
+never accomplished what he did.
+
+He was already wounded; even he himself had owned he was in pain.  And
+yet, mile upon mile, he broke his way through the jungle, fighting
+onward amid the profusion of the forest, like one who was raving mad.
+Often he sank to his waist in marsh.  His clothes were torn to shreds by
+thorns.  His face and hands were red with blood which had mingled with
+the perspiration that streamed from every pore.  When he came forth from
+the forest, at the head of the ravine, he looked hardly human--the most
+desperate being it were possible to picture.
+
+For all that he dashed on, across the bare rocks, in the blazing heat of
+the sun.  There was nothing now to impede him, and he raced upon his
+way, never pausing for breath.  He was half-naked; he had left the
+greater part of his clothes upon the thorn-trees in the jungle.  His
+pith helmet was askew, and battered and out of shape.  He had used his
+Remington rifle as a club to beat his way through the thickets, had
+broken it off at the small of the butt, and now held the barrel in his
+hand.  His legs were bare to the knee, like those of an urchin, and so
+clotted with blood that he looked like a savage who had dyed his skin.
+Sometimes he stumbled, and seemed in danger of falling; but each time he
+braced himself up, struck himself upon the chest, and went on even
+faster than before.
+
+When he came to the end of the ravine he turned to the west, and there
+found a place where he could climb down to the low-lying flats.  It was
+then approaching sunset.  The heat of the day was past.
+
+At about half-way down the incline he paused, and lifted the palm of his
+hand to screen his only eye.  For some minutes he scanned the plain, and
+then on a sudden he gave vent to a loud cry of exultation, and bounded
+down the hill.  Far in the distance, high and dry upon a mud-bank, he
+had caught sight of a small speck, which he knew for a human being.
+
+It took him more than half an hour to reach this place.  By then it was
+nearly dusk.  Bending down over the drenched, motionless form, he
+thought at first that Max was dead.  He could feel no beating of the
+heart.
+
+Still, Crouch was not the man to despair.  Moreover, in the days when he
+had sailed the seas, he had had experience in the resuscitation of the
+drowned.
+
+Without delay he set to work.  He lifted the body so that the water
+poured from the mouth of the unconscious man.  He then seated himself
+upon the ground at Max's head, and worked both arms like the handles of
+a pump.
+
+The sun set and a full moon arose, which traced a silvery pathway across
+the great wasteland that extended both to the east and to the west, as
+far as the eye could reach.  Here and there lonely, stunted trees showed
+like sentinels upon the plain.  The only sound that disturbed the
+stillness of the night was the dull, continuous roar of the cataract to
+the south.  Here was no sign of animal life.  In the daytime the
+marshland was thronged with birds, but these now were silent.  It would
+be impossible to imagine a place more desolate and weird.  It seemed not
+of the world, or, if it were, of some forgotten country, buried for ever
+beyond the reach of progress and the influence of man.
+
+Hour after hour Crouch held to his task.  The sweat poured from his
+forehead, the blood still issued from his wounds, but never for a moment
+did he cease.
+
+At last he stopped, and placed an ear to Max's chest.  Thereupon, he
+went on again, more feverishly than ever.
+
+Soon after that, a quick cry escaped his lips.  He had looked into Max's
+face, and seen the eyelids flicker; and presently, two eyes were staring
+in his face.  And at that the little man just toppled forward in a
+faint, and lay upon his face across the body which his efforts had
+brought back to life.
+
+Without doubt, the mind is master of the body, and the will is king of
+the mind.  One had but to glance into the face of Captain Crouch to see
+that he was possessed of a will of iron.  The strong brows, the firm
+mouth, the great hatchet chin--these had not been given him for naught.
+He may have had the strength of Hercules; yet he had never accomplished
+his journey down the river, had it not been for the indomitable strength
+of his mind.  And now that he realized that the victory was his, that
+his efforts had been crowned with success, the will, on a sudden,
+relinquished its task, as a helmsman gives way to his successor at the
+wheel--and Crouch fell forward in a faint.
+
+At dawn, the sun found them lying together on the mud, and by the warmth
+of its rays set the blood coursing more freely in their veins.
+
+Max was the first to revive.  He tried to lift himself, but found that
+he was not able to do so, because of the weight of Crouch's body on his
+chest.  He fell back again, and lay for some time with opened eyes,
+staring upward at the sky.
+
+He saw the colours change in the heavens.  He heard the cries of the
+birds upon the marsh.  Then, once again, he struggled to an elbow.
+
+With difficulty he lifted Crouch; and then, looking into the captain's
+face, he wondered where he was, and how it had come about that they two
+were stranded, side by side, in the midst of surroundings with which he
+was wholly unfamiliar.
+
+Then he remembered, by degrees.  The struggle with the Arab in the
+back-water--his headlong rush throughout the length of the rapids--the
+vision he had had of Crouch, frantic on the bank.  And then--the ravine,
+and at the end, the cataract--the thunder of the water--the rushing in
+his ears.
+
+The truth was not difficult to guess; indeed, there was no other
+explanation.  He tried to rise to his feet, but could not do so.  At
+that, he lay back again, to rest, and gave silent thanks in his heart to
+Divine Providence by means of which he had been saved as by a miracle.
+He had undergone the sensations of death, and yet he lived.
+
+He had lain quite still and motionless, it may have been for an hour,
+when Crouch sat up and looked about him.  And when he had taken in the
+scene, he let fall the following irrelevant remark--
+
+"I've lost my pipe," said he.
+
+He then got to his feet, and walking to the water's edge--which was but
+a few feet distant--he knelt down, scooped the water in his hands, and
+drank.
+
+Then he returned to Max, and seated himself by his side.
+
+"Feeling queer?" he asked.
+
+Max answered that he was very weak.
+
+"Your strength 'll return," said Crouch; "but you must have some cover
+for your head."
+
+He took off his coat, which was nothing but a bundle of tatters, and
+rolling this into a kind of turban, he placed it upon Max's forehead to
+protect him from the heat of the sun.  Then he went back to the water's
+edge, washed the blood from his face and hands, and bathed the back of
+his neck.  As he returned, he found the barrel of his broken rifle, and
+stooped and picked it up.
+
+"Look at that!" said he.  "That was once the best rifle in this forsaken
+continent.  Not worth its weight as scrap-iron!"
+
+"I suppose," said Max, "you'll be offended if I try to thank you?"
+
+"You suppose right," said Crouch.  "Do you feel able to walk?"
+
+"I think so."
+
+"You don't," said the captain.  "There's no hurry."  Then he began to
+think aloud.  "If we work up-stream," said he, "we'll be on the wrong
+side of the river.  By now Caesar will have found our canoe.  We're not
+armed; we have no food.  There are precisely three ways in which we
+might die: first, starvation; second, Caesar; third, a buffalo.  The
+first's a certainty.  Both of us are too weak to swim the river at Hippo
+Pool--to say nothing of crocodiles.  On the other hand, if we go
+down-stream, walking will be easy till we get to the mangrove swamp.
+Have you got a knife?"
+
+Max felt in his pockets, and produced the article in question.  Crouch
+looked at it.
+
+"That'll do," said he.  "With this we should be able to dig out a canoe,
+and make a couple of paddles.  If we don't die at the job, we ought to
+work our way up to Date Palm Island.  As soon as you're ready, we'll
+start."
+
+"I'm ready now," said Max.
+
+"Then come along," said Crouch.
+
+The mud lay in ridges, which had been baked hard by the sun.  Between
+these the water lay in long pools which, as they progressed farther to
+the north, became more and more still, less disturbed by the current
+that issued from the falls.  Crouch patted his clothes as he limped
+along.
+
+"I've lost every blamed thing," said he; "pipe, pouch and baccy,
+compass, knife and ammunition."
+
+Max answered nothing.  He thought it would not be wise to sympathize.
+Crouch was a peculiar man in many ways.
+
+Soon after midday they came to the mangrove swamp; and the crossing of a
+mangrove swamp is a thing that most African explorers have accomplished.
+The roots of the short, stunted trees stand out upon the surface of the
+water.  It is necessary to pass by way of these, stepping from one root
+to another; and some knowledge of the art of balancing is utterly
+essential.  If you lose your foothold, you fall into the swamp, and
+there you are set upon by leeches.  Some of these are large--sometimes
+as large as snails--but the kind generally met with is an animal so
+small that it can work its way through the eye-holes of your boots.
+Once this creature has laid hold upon your skin, and begun to suck your
+blood, it begins to swell until it has attained the size of a cherry.
+
+At the edge of the mangrove swamp Crouch and Max took off their boots,
+and hung these across their shoulders.  With bare feet they could get a
+better footing upon the twisted roots of the trees.
+
+For three hours they journeyed through the swamp, which was buried in
+semi-darkness.  It was far darker than the jungle.  It is in these
+swamps that the mosquitoes swarm in myriads, and all the deadly diseases
+of the country are engendered.  To pitch a standing camp in the vicinity
+of a mangrove swamp, is to court a certain death from malaria or
+typhoid.
+
+They were weary, faint, and aching in their bones when they came upon
+the banks of the Kasai.  No wonder this had been named the "Hidden
+River."  It joined the great tributary of the Congo in a thousand little
+streams, all flowing silently through darkness beneath the close-packed
+trees.
+
+Crouch turned to the right.  He had been bearing to the east throughout,
+and in a little while they were clear of the swamp, on terra firma.
+Seating themselves, they put on their boots.
+
+"By Christopher," said Crouch, "I'm weak!  I don't fancy making that
+canoe with a jackknife."
+
+"Nor I," said Max.  "But we'll do it."
+
+Crouch laughed.
+
+"We will," said he, but his face was white as a ghost.  Then he sat bolt
+upright and listened.  "What's that?" he cried.
+
+Faint in the distance was a gentle, scraping sound, which grew louder
+and louder as the minutes passed.  Max at first could not believe the
+evidence of his ears.  He waited expectantly, and at last heard a
+rippling sound, that was like the laughter of a child.  He sprang to his
+feet, and rushing to the water's edge, looked up-stream, shading his
+eyes with his hand.  It was, indeed, the truth--a long canoe was
+swinging down upon the tide.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII--BACK TO THE UNKNOWN
+
+
+A minute later they saw that the canoe was manned by six of their own
+Loango boys, who made the blades of the paddles flash in the sunlight;
+and, moreover, they recognized the canoe as the one they had left at
+Date Palm Island.
+
+Max lifted his voice and shouted from the bank.  Whereat the boys ceased
+to paddle, and regarded them amazed.  Then, recognizing their masters,
+they raised a shout in chorus, and drew in towards the bank.
+
+Had these natives desired proof of the omnipotence of the Fire-gods,
+they could have wished for nothing more.  Had they searched Central
+Africa from the Equator to the Zambesi, they could have found no two
+people more wretched-looking and forlorn.  Max was utterly exhausted,
+and so faint that he could scarcely stand.  As for Crouch, he might have
+been mauled by a lion.
+
+One of the boys flung himself upon the ground, then rose to a kneeling
+position, and lifted his arms as in prayer.
+
+"Master," he cried, "what did we tell you?  We warned you of the
+Fire-gods!  We told you the valley was bewitched!  We implored you not
+to go!"
+
+As the boy ran on in the same strain, Crouch gathered himself together,
+growing purple in the face.  With his tattered garments, which resembled
+ruffled feathers, he looked like an infuriated turkey-cock. And then,
+without warning, he landed the boy such a kick as lifted him bodily into
+the air.
+
+"Fire-gods be hanged!" he shouted.  "These are jungle marks.  If the
+valley 's bewitched, it's bewitched by thorns.  Look here!  See for
+yourselves!"  So saying, he lifted his bare leg, in which the thorns
+were sticking like so many pins in a pin-cushion.  "I've seen the
+Fire-gods," he ran on.  "You blithering fools, I've taken tea with 'em.
+I've doctored one with a dose of medicine, and I've played cards with
+the other.  And I've not done with them, yet--mind that!  I'm going
+back, by Christopher! and there'll be the biggest war-palaver you ever
+heard of in your lives.  Come, get up, and get a move on!  But, first,
+what are you doing here?"
+
+The boys answered that they had come down-stream to shoot hippopotami
+for food.  They said that about a mile farther down the river there was
+a great grassy bank where many of these animals were to be found. Crouch
+ordered them to get back into the canoe, saying that as soon as they
+arrived at the island he would open a case of supplies--bully beef and
+sardines, of which the Loango boys cherished the empty tins.  Also, he
+promised that in a day or so he would shoot a buffalo, and they would
+not want for provisions.  There was a certain amount of hippo meat in
+the canoe, and that night Crouch and Max partook of the same food as the
+boys.  It was not until the afternoon of the following day that they
+arrived at Date Palm Island.
+
+They did not expect Edward Harden for some days.  He was still forcing
+his way towards the Kasai by way of the portage.  In the meantime, not
+only were they glad enough of a rest, but this was altogether essential.
+It took Crouch some days to rid himself of the thorns which had attached
+themselves to his skin.  He refused all medical assistance from Max; and
+the wonder of it was, that the wound in his thigh was healing rapidly
+under his "Bull's Eye treatment."  This was wholly incomprehensible to
+the young medical student, who beheld the theories he had studied at
+hospital, and on which he had placed such store, dissipated to the
+winds.  In all probability, the fact was that Crouch had such firm
+belief in his own remedy that his cure was an example of "faith
+healing"; it is generally admitted in these days that "attitude of mind"
+affects the health and can even bring about organic changes, for better
+or for worse.  At any rate, in three days he was sufficiently recovered
+to set forth into the forest of rubber trees on the right bank of the
+river in search of the buffalo he had promised the boys.  Max--although
+on this occasion he remained in camp--had by now completely recovered
+his strength.
+
+There were few things they carried with them to the Hidden River of
+which they had not duplicates at Date Palm Island.  Crouch had been able
+to secure a new suit of clothes, tobacco and another pipe.  As for
+rifles, both Edward and Crouch were experienced explorers, and knew that
+if a fire-arm was lost or broken, they could not buy a new one in the
+heart of Africa.  They had therefore equipped themselves with a battery
+of several rifles, including Remingtons, Expresses and Winchester
+repeaters, besides several shot-guns and revolvers.
+
+On the evening of that day, when he was expecting Crouch's return at any
+moment, Max walked to the northern extremity of the island.  When there,
+his ears caught the sound of a shot in the forest, on the left bank of
+the river.
+
+Now, since Crouch had landed on the other side, there could be no
+question as to whence came this shot; and in a few minutes Max had run
+to the canoe, jumped in and paddled to the bank.  There, he picked up
+his rifle and fired twice into the air.
+
+Almost immediately his two shots were answered, and there came a second
+answer--from Crouch on the northern bank.  A quarter of an hour later,
+Max, who had hastened forward on the line of the portage, had grasped
+the hand of his uncle, who was amazed to see him.
+
+Crouch returned at nightfall.  He had killed his buffalo, far in the
+interior of the forest, and the following morning the boys set out to
+cut it up.  That night the three friends were seated around the
+camp-fire on Date Palm Island.  Edward's journey had been uneventful,
+except that one of his Fan attendants had been mauled badly by a wounded
+leopard.
+
+It was Max who related the story of all that had happened since his
+uncle left Hippo Pool.  The big man listened in silence; and when the
+story was ended he said nothing, and never once did he look at Crouch.
+He knew the captain far too well to thank him.  With old friends who
+have been through thick and thin together, who have stood side by side
+throughout many a danger, words are at a discount--a kind of mutual
+understanding exists between them that makes conversation a sheer waste
+of time.  Still, though Edward said nothing, Max knew well enough that
+he thanked the little, wizened captain in his heart, and was conscious
+of the debt he owed him.
+
+They remained on the island for another week, and it took them all that
+time to persuade a dozen of the boys to accompany them upon the portage
+in the capacity of carriers.  It was only on the understanding that they
+would not be asked to embark upon the dreaded river of the "Fire-gods"
+that, at last, they consented to go.
+
+Indeed, this time, they had no intention of advancing as far as the
+river.  They proposed to follow the portage to Observation Creek, and
+thence to strike up-stream, due south, until they found a suitable
+camping-ground.  Here they would establish their base, sending the boys
+back to the island with orders to wait for their return.
+
+The Loango boys could be trusted; most of them had faithfully served
+either Crouch or Edward in the past.  Besides, they were a thousand
+miles from their home, and dared not make the passage of the Congo by
+themselves, because of the hostile tribes that, in those days, abounded
+to the east of Stanley Falls.  When Crouch and Edward Harden were on the
+river their reputation went before them; their friends came forth to
+meet them--grinning cannibals with necklaces of monkeys' teeth suspended
+round their necks, and little else besides by way of clothing--and their
+enemies, those who had broken their faith with Harden or fallen foul of
+Crouch, deserted their villages and took to the jungle, to let the two
+great white men pass, whose fame had reached to the very heart of the
+continent, and who, it was said, were spoken of even by the pigmies who
+lived in the dark, unknown country west of the Lakes.
+
+When they set out with their carriers for Observation Creek, the three
+Europeans were sanguine of success, and even the four Fans (the one who
+had been injured by the leopard had been left behind on the island)
+shared their expectations.  The riddle of the valley was yet unsolved.
+The Portuguese still guarded well his secret.  In his fortress by the
+river, encompassed upon every hand by the dark, inhospitable jungle, he
+had every reason to think himself secure.  Moreover, he had cause to
+believe that both Max and Crouch were dead--the former drowned at the
+cataract, the latter lost in the jungle.  Half the victory is gained
+when one can take one's adversary by surprise.  Caesar had lost Gyp, his
+most accomplished scout.  He might patrol the river, but he would find
+no trace of the Englishmen from Makanda to the rapids.  He might search
+their old camp at Hippo Pool, where he would find, perhaps, a box of
+ammunition, cooking utensils and a few days' provisions--to say nothing
+of Crouch's case of glass eyes--but he would gain no clue to the fact
+that his enemies had returned to the valley.
+
+From their base camp on Observation Creek they had decided to move
+up-stream towards the mountain.  They hoped to make friends with the
+natives of the Pambala village that M'Wane had seen in the distance.
+Thence they could approach Makanda from the east.
+
+Each time they traversed the portage progress was more easy.  It was no
+longer necessary to cut a way through the thickets with bill-hooks and
+axes, and to "blaze" the trees.  Besides, they were now familiar with
+the road, knew where to look for water and the bitter roots of wild
+manioc, or cassava--from which tapioca is manufactured--and upon which,
+to a large degree, they were obliged to subsist in the jungle.  Also
+they no longer carried a canoe.
+
+In consequence, they reached the Creek in four and a half days.  After
+halting for an hour, they continued their journey to the south, turning
+to the left from the route which led direct to Hippo Pool.  They
+followed the course of the stream till sunset, and then camped for the
+night.  Another day's march brought them to an open place by the side of
+the Creek, where the ground was too rocky for vegetation to flourish.
+They had been conscious throughout the day's journey of going up-hill,
+and this was doubtless the foot of one of the spurs of the mountain they
+wished to gain.  It was here they decided to camp.
+
+They pitched their tent, and gathered a supply of firewood in the
+forest.  The water of the stream was clear and good to drink.  They were
+much pestered by insects of all descriptions, but this is inevitable in
+the heart of an equatorial forest, and not even the smoke of Crouch's
+tobacco served to keep away the millions of flies, mosquitoes and ants,
+to say nothing of less disagreeable companions, such as the most
+gorgeous butterflies and gigantic dragon-flies and moths.
+
+The following day the Loango boys departed upon their return journey to
+the Kasai.  As had been the case before, they showed great eagerness to
+return.  It seems that they could not rid their minds of the tales they
+had heard of the Fire-gods, and neither Crouch nor Edward could persuade
+them that the valley was not haunted by evil spirits.
+
+During the days that followed the party suffered from want of meat. They
+had deemed it advisable not to shoot.  Though they were still some
+distance from Makanda, there was always a chance that Caesar and his
+Arabs were somewhere abroad in the forest, and they did not wish the man
+to suspect that they had returned.  In the forest they found nothing to
+eat but manioc, and a continual diet of the tubers of this peculiar
+plant is somewhat monotonous and is apt to set up a kind of blood
+poisoning, to which some people are more liable than others. Edward,
+whose large carcass required a considerable amount of nourishment, began
+to suffer from some kind of bilious fever.
+
+After a day's rest they set out upon their southward journey.  Day by
+day as they progressed, the nature of the vegetation changed.  The
+forest trees became thinner and not so large.  The atmosphere became
+cooler and more rarefied.  The slope grew steeper and steeper, until at
+last they were confronted by a sharp, rocky bluff which enclosed the
+jungle like a wall.  They followed this to the left, and came presently
+to a gully, a dried-up watercourse, up which it was possible to climb.
+At the top they found themselves upon a hillock--one of those bare,
+flat-topped eminences which are scattered throughout the whole continent
+of Africa.  Hence it was possible to obtain a bird's-eye view of the
+country.
+
+To the north, as far as the eye could reach, extended the forest through
+which they had passed.  About twenty miles to the eastward they could
+see the Kasai above Date Palm Island.  To the west there was no sign of
+the Hidden River, which, being narrower and flowing in a direction
+almost due south to north, was hidden among the trees.  To the south a
+magnificent panorama was extended to their view.  The foreground fell
+away in a valley which, to some extent, had been given over to
+cultivation; and beyond, in rugged majesty, arose Solitude Peak.  The
+great mountain towered into the sky, its crest wrapped in clouds; and
+over the valley hung a thin blue mist, above which some great bird of
+prey hung like a gnat, with outstretched wings, in the very midst of
+space.
+
+It was Max who was the first to see the village, half-way up the
+mountain slope, lying--as M'Wane had described it--like a bird's nest in
+the forked branches of a tree.  He pointed it out to his companions, and
+then the party began to descend into the valley, one behind the other in
+single file, following a track which had been made by elephants.  An
+elephant trail can never be mistaken; however hard the ground, the
+imprints of their great feet remain, and they have a habit of tearing
+branches from the trees as they pass, not so much for food, as from pure
+love of destruction.
+
+It took them several hours to cross the valley, and then they began the
+steep ascent of the mountain.  Suddenly M'Wane, who was leading, came to
+an abrupt standstill, and stood upon a sharp pinnacle of rock, pointing
+to the east.  There was something noble in his dark, savage figure,
+standing upright, straight as a larch, in the midst of these wild
+surroundings.  A moment later he was joined by the two Hardens and
+Crouch.
+
+There, in the distance, they could discern the broad waters of the lake
+before Makanda.  They could see the granite hills, which were red in the
+glow of the setting sun.  They could see, also, the narrow gorge in the
+south, and far in the distance was a great range of undiscovered
+mountains.  As they looked, a sound issued from the valley, which, like
+a long peal of distant thunder, rolled away to the north upon the wind,
+echoing through the forest.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV--"BLACK IVORY"
+
+
+"The Fire-gods' thunder!" said M'Wane, in a kind of hushed whisper, with
+his lips parted and his eyes staring in the direction of the Hidden
+River.
+
+It was obvious that the man was afraid.  He belonged to a wild race that
+for centuries has roamed the jungle, catching fish in baskets at the
+waterfalls and setting traps in the forest.  Until a few days before he
+had never seen a firearm in his life.  He had heard tales of white men
+who were traders on the Coast, but he had never associated these with
+the Fire-gods who inhabited the Hidden Valley, whom he regarded as
+superhuman.
+
+Crouch looked at Edward.  "What do you make of it?" he asked.
+
+Harden was frowning in the direction of the valley.  His fingers tugged
+at the end of his moustache.  He was a man of few words, as we know.
+
+"Dynamite," said he.
+
+"I think so, too," said Crouch.  "I wonder what his game is!"
+
+In their immediate neighbourhood was a narrow stretch of grass--the
+coarse, thin grass that is usually to be met with on the lower slopes of
+mountains.  It was at this moment that Crouch's eye became fixed in the
+centre of this.  He remained motionless for some seconds, and then on a
+sudden grasped Edward by the arm.
+
+"There's a man there!" said he.  "Look out!"
+
+Simultaneously a black form sprang out of the grass and ran up the hill
+in the direction of the village.  Crouch whipped round upon M'Wane and
+his Fans.
+
+"After him!" he cried.  "A reward if you catch him alive."
+
+The four Fans set off as fast as they could go.  The race lasted no
+longer than five minutes at the most.  The fugitive seemed possessed of
+the agility of an antelope when startled from its midday slumber; he
+sprang over boulders, he dodged right and left like a snipe.  But the
+Fans were fleeter of foot than he; at every stride they gained upon him,
+and in the end he was overtaken.
+
+They brought him back to Crouch--a woeful, terrified object who had not
+the courage to lift his head.  Crouch tried him with five languages, but
+he seemed not to understand, and only gave utterance to a few incoherent
+grunts.  Then Crouch tried the "blood-bond," and this is not pleasant to
+describe.  He took a knife from his pocket, opened a vein in his hand,
+and the native licked the wound.  At that Crouch gave his knife to the
+man, who in turn inflicted a wound upon himself, and Crouch went through
+his part of the business with a heroism that Max was bound to admire.
+They were now "blood-brothers," and that is a bond which is inviolable
+in the region of the Congo.  Crouch made the man understand him by means
+of signs, in the art of which he was a master.
+
+"I have one heart," said he, by which he conveyed the fact that he was
+no traitor, that his word could be relied on.  "I wish to speak with the
+people of your village."
+
+The man, pointing in the direction of Makanda, wanted to know whether
+Crouch and his companions were allies of the Fire-gods.
+
+"No," said Crouch.  "We are come to make war upon the Fire-gods."
+
+The man but half believed that.  None the less, he agreed to take them
+to the village.  They urged him to set forward without delay, since it
+had already grown dark.
+
+It was past nightfall when they arrived at a narrow street of small,
+rounded huts, constructed of bamboo stems and palm leaves.  Despite the
+fact that they came with one of the villagers, the majority of the
+inhabitants fled at their approach.  This wild people were timid, shy as
+animals; also, as we shall see, they stood in a mortal fear of Caesar
+and his Arabs.
+
+As they approached the village, Crouch managed to gain the confidence of
+their captive.  Where natives were concerned the little sea-captain had
+a way with him.  The man promised that if they would wait till the
+morning he would persuade his friends to attend a palaver.
+
+That night they had the village to themselves.  The inhabitants--men,
+women and children--had disappeared into the valley, where they spent
+the night in fear and trembling.  This is the common behaviour of many
+uncivilized peoples when, for the first time in their lives, they behold
+the indomitable white man.  And these villagers had the greater reason
+to be fearful, since they associated the explorers with the Fire-gods.
+
+Fortunately, they had fled in such haste that they had left most of
+their provisions in their huts.  Crouch and his companions enjoyed a
+change of diet.  That night they dined upon the flesh of a goat, which
+they resolved to pay for on the morrow, besides plantains and Indian
+corn.
+
+They took turn and turn about to keep watch throughout the night, but
+there was no alarm.  At daybreak they stationed themselves upon an
+eminence above the village, hoping that the inhabitants would summon up
+courage to return.  Below them was the cultivated ground through which
+they had passed the previous evening.  The greater part had been given
+over to the culture of ground-nuts; but there were also small patches of
+Indian corn and banana groves.  The explorer who wishes to succeed with
+the untutored savage must possess his soul in patience by the hour.
+Crouch sat down and lit his pipe.
+
+Shortly before midday, several dusky figures appeared from out of the
+jungle, and made their way to the plantation.  There they remained in a
+body, frightened to come nearer; and by the aid of his field-glass, Max
+was able to make out the figure of Crouch's "blood-brother" who,
+gesticulating wildly, endeavoured to persuade his friends and relations
+to return.
+
+Seeing that this was going to be a long business, Crouch suggested that
+they should walk down to the village and partake of food.  Since their
+hosts were unwilling to entertain them, it only remained for them to
+help themselves.  This they did with liberality, for they had the
+appetites of lions.
+
+They were in the middle of their repast when they heard the sound of
+running feet and a great commotion.  Looking up they beheld one of the
+women of the village running towards them well-nigh panic-stricken, and
+filling the air with screams.  This woman rushed into a hut, and came
+out again with all her portable belongings.
+
+By then the little street was crowded with old men, women and children,
+wringing their hands in desperation, and uttering such moans and
+supplications as were heartrending to listen to.  It was remarkable that
+among the crowd there were not more than five young men at the most; the
+majority were women, and of the children there were few who were not
+three years of age.
+
+Crouch looked about him, and caught sight of his "blood-brother," who
+was no less distracted than the rest.  He laid hold of this fellow by
+the arm, and with great difficulty managed to discover what had
+happened.
+
+The "blood-brother" had just persuaded his relatives to return to the
+village; he had explained, at last, to their satisfaction that the new
+white men were not the servants of the Fire-gods, when suddenly the
+Fire-gods themselves had been seen approaching up the valley.  At that,
+the whole population had taken to their heels.  They knew not where they
+were going, for it was the custom of the Fire-gods to come upon them
+from both sides at once, and if they tried to escape they were shot
+without mercy.  The great Fire-god was there himself--the tall, white
+man with the black beard--and it was he whom they feared even more than
+the Arabs.
+
+Crouch looked at Edward.  There was a twinkle in his eye.
+
+"There's going to be fun," said he.
+
+"It will come to a fight," said Edward; "and I'm not sorry for that."
+
+"I hope it won't," said Crouch.  "There are many things we ought to find
+out before we come to blows.  As far as I can understand from my worthy
+'blood-brother,' Caesar is coming here for palaver.  They'll hold
+palaver in the street; and if we hide in a hut we ought to overhear what
+the advertisements in the newspapers call 'something to our advantage.'"
+
+"I see," said Edward; "and if we're discovered, we fight."
+
+"Exactly," said Crouch.  "That's the idea."
+
+It so happened that they had placed their "loads" in one of the huts
+where they would not be seen by Caesar as he entered the village.  It
+was all Crouch could do to explain to his "blood-brother" that they
+desired to hide, that the Fire-gods must not be told of their presence
+in the village.  After a while, the man seemed to understand; but,
+indeed, he stood in such dread of the Portuguese that it was extremely
+doubtful whether he was wholly responsible for what he was saying.
+
+Crowded together in one of the small huts the three Englishmen and the
+four Fans awaited the arrival of the Fire-gods.  They were astonished at
+what they beheld--the abject consternation and alarm of the villagers,
+who now appeared a cowered and servile race.  Never for one moment did
+it seem to occur to the few men among them to take up arms, in spite of
+the fact that the Pambala--to whom they were obviously related--are a
+warlike and courageous people.
+
+The reason for their cowardice was obvious.  They did not fear the
+Portuguese without a cause.  They had learnt to their cost that Caesar
+was a man to be dreaded.
+
+Crouch made a little eye-hole in the wall of the hut, whence he obtained
+a good view of the street.  It was through this that he caught sight of
+Caesar and de Costa, the moment they entered the village.
+
+It was Caesar himself who led the way.  He strolled forward, with his
+rifle under his arm, and his black eyes shooting in all directions, as
+if he were doing no more than taking an afternoon walk in a
+neighbourhood where there was much to be observed.  He was followed by
+four Arabs, in robes of flowing white; and the last of these conducted a
+negro, of the same tribe as the villagers, who wore an iron collar round
+his neck which was made fast to a chain.  The rear of the party was
+brought up by de Costa, slinking forward like some mongrel cur,
+fever-stricken and afraid.
+
+The party halted in the village street, some little distance from the
+hut where the three Englishmen were hiding, but not so far away as to
+make it impossible for Crouch to overhear the conversation that ensued.
+The chained negro was brought forward by the Arab who had charge of him;
+and it was this man who acted as interpreter.  Caesar spoke to him in
+Portuguese, and he translated.  Crouch made a mental note of every word,
+for he had a far better knowledge of the Portuguese language than the
+interpreter himself.
+
+"As you know," said Caesar, "it is my custom to state my business in a
+few words.  I come here to give orders.  I expect those orders to be
+obeyed."
+
+He lifted his sombrero hat and mopped the perspiration from his
+forehead, for the afternoon was hot, and he walked up hill.  The four
+Arabs stood around him--proud, arrogant, handsome men, upon whose
+features were stamped an unmitigated contempt for the simple savages who
+stood in awe before them.  It was the headman of the village who
+answered, an old man, with a short, grey beard, who wore a helmet made
+of a monkey's skin, and surmounted by the green covert feathers of a
+parrot.
+
+"The great Fire-god," said he, "has but to speak."
+
+"Good," said Caesar.  "You know who I am.  You know my power.  You know
+that to disobey me is death."
+
+The old man bowed his head.
+
+"I trade in ivory," said Caesar, "black ivory.  You understand what I
+mean.  Now, listen to my command.  I desire twenty more slaves, of your
+youngest and most able-bodied men.  They must be ready to return with me
+to Makanda before the setting of the sun."
+
+At that the headman threw himself upon the ground.
+
+"It is impossible!" he cried.  "Only last moon the great Fire-god took
+away all the men of the village.  No one remains but those who are old,
+and women and children.  The Fire-god can see for himself."
+
+"I do not choose to look," said Caesar.  "As I have said, it is my
+business to give orders.  There is sickness in my camp, and many of my
+people have died, and more are dying every day.  I require others to
+take their places.  If you have no more men, I will take women and
+children.  But I will require two women, or three boys over twelve and
+under sixteen years of age, for every man.  You can please yourself as
+to which you give me.  It is all the same to me."
+
+"It is impossible!" repeated the native.
+
+"Impossible or not," said the Portuguese, "I give you till sunset.  If
+these people are not ready then, the consequence is on your own head.
+You know how I treated the villages on the other side of the mountain?
+Your fate will be the same.  I will attack by night; I will set fire to
+every hut; and I will take every one of you to be my slaves."
+
+"Mercy!" cried the native.  But Caesar turned upon his heel, and led the
+way from the village, followed by his Arabs, who smiled in heartless
+satisfaction.
+
+Crouch gave time for Caesar to be well away from the village.  Then he
+crawled out of the hut, and seizing his "blood-brother" by the hand,
+swore that he would save them all.
+
+At first, he quite failed to gain their confidence.  They were convinced
+in their minds that the Fire-gods were greater than all men, as the
+strength of the elephant exceeds that of other beasts of the forest.
+
+But Crouch would not take that for answer.  He commanded them to light a
+fire, and they obeyed.  When the flames were burning brightly he
+executed a war-dance round and round the fire.  His antics were
+extraordinary to see.
+
+They may have thought him mad; but at all events he gained his object:
+he drew them round him in a ring.  They stood open-mouthed and
+open-eyed, amazed at his contortions.  They were children of the minute.
+To all intents and purposes they had already forgotten the Portuguese
+and his threats.
+
+Crouch sang, and never was there such singing.  His voice was cracked
+and out of tune.  It was all Max could do to prevent himself exploding
+into laughter.  The words of Crouch's song had nothing to do with the
+matter; in point of fact they were concerned with "Nuts and May."  For
+all that, he impressed the natives hugely.  And when they had gathered
+closer he took the boot from his foot, and thrust his toes into the
+fire.  And all the time he continued to sing of "Nuts and May," whilst
+the atmosphere was tainted with the pungent smell of burning cork.
+
+The silence was so great that Edward Harden could hear the ticking of
+his watch.  The villagers stood around, breathless and amazed.  Then
+Crouch spoke to them; and the following was the argument he used.
+
+He admitted that the slave-dealer was master over fire; hence he was
+called the "Fire-god."  But he (Crouch) had proved to them that fire
+could not affect him.  Near-by a pitcher of water was standing outside a
+hut, and into this he thrust his foot.  There was a sizzling sound, and
+steam was given off.  He made the natives place their hands into the
+water, to see for themselves that it was warm.  He finished up by saying
+that, if they would put themselves under his command, he would show them
+how to face the Fire-god's anger.
+
+With reluctance they agreed.  In the space of a few minutes it was
+impossible for Crouch to efface the result of two long years of
+persecution.  The headman of the village, Crouch's "blood-brother," and
+one or two others, came forward on behalf of their relations, their
+children and their wives.  Crouch turned to Harden.
+
+"Can we defend this place?" said he.
+
+Edward had already thought of that.
+
+"Yes," said he.  "They can only advance by two paths.  Elsewhere the
+slope is too steep.  There is an hour before sunset.  If you make these
+people build a wall of the small boulders which lie everywhere about, we
+should be able to keep the rascals at bay."
+
+"I'll do my best," said Crouch.  And thereupon he set to work.
+
+It took the natives some time to understand his meaning; but when he had
+shown them what he wanted done they worked with a will, the women
+carrying enormous stones, and even the little children lending aid.
+
+The parapet of stone grew like the walls of Rome, until, at last, it
+formed a semi-circle around the village, joining the mountain-side at
+either end.  Then the women and children were placed under cover, and
+ordered not to move.  Edward posted himself at the head of the path
+which led from the west, and Max on the other side of the village.  At
+the feet of each was a box of ammunition.  As for Crouch, he hobbled
+here and there on the charred stump of his foot, giving instructions up
+to the last minute, when, in the dying light of day, Caesar and his
+Arabs were observed advancing up the valley.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV--CHOLERA
+
+
+As before, it was Caesar who led the way; and the stone wall warned him
+that danger was ahead.  He guessed the truth in a flash.  He knew well
+enough that the natives themselves would never have dared to offer him
+resistance.
+
+He stopped dead upon the path, and pointed out the wall to the Arab who
+accompanied him.  The man shaded his eyes with the palm of his hand, for
+the mists of evening were rising from the valley, and the light was bad.
+After a while the Arab disappeared from view, and then returned with his
+comrades.  They came up the path as men stalk game, creeping from
+boulder to boulder.  It was impossible to see them from the village.
+Flat upon the ground, they glided from place to place like snakes.  And
+every minute the light was getting worse.
+
+One man, more daring than his comrades, had gained the cover of a large
+rock about two hundred yards from the village.
+
+His eyes were sharp as those of a vulture.  He was descended from the
+sons of the desert.  Peering round the angle of the rock behind which he
+was hiding, he caught sight of Edward Harden's helmet, moving behind the
+wall.
+
+In a second, the butt of his rifle was at his shoulder, and his left eye
+was closed.  He took in a deep breath, and aimed.  At that moment, there
+was a sharp crack from the wall, whence nothing of the Arab was visible
+but the upper part of his head.  And Edward Harden's bullet drilled a
+hole in the centre of the man's forehead; so that his head just dropped
+like a broken toy, and he lay still and lifeless, with his loaded rifle
+in his hand.  Son of a warlike race, that for centuries had oppressed
+the ignorant and the weak, he had gone to make his peace with God, the
+Giver of Life and Death.
+
+Caesar, from some distance behind, with a pair of field-glasses to his
+eyes, had watched this tragedy of seconds; and he knew at once with whom
+he had to reckon.  He drew a whistle from his pocket, and blew a long,
+shrill note, which was the signal to retreat.  His three remaining Arabs
+came back to him, retiring even more cautiously than they had advanced.
+
+Night fell, as a curtain is rung down upon a stage.  The natives of the
+village, the old men and women and children, who had sat huddled and
+shivering under cover of the wall, came forth and marvelled that a
+Fire-god had been turned back by a single shot.  Crouch's authority
+increased by leaps and bounds.  The villagers, like children, desired to
+celebrate the occasion with inconsequent rejoicing.  They set about
+beating large, wooden drums, but Grouch cast these away.  They lit
+fires, but Crouch stamped them out.
+
+Only the babies were allowed to rest that night; the little sea-captain
+kept the others working until long after midnight, when a new moon
+arose.  He improved the defences.  He had all the provisions and the
+water-jars carried to the hut which he had made his own headquarters,
+whilst the two Hardens stood as sentries on either side of the village.
+
+At about two o'clock in the morning, Max, on the eastern side of the
+village, heard the noise of a loosened stone rolling down the
+mountain-side.  That put him on his guard.  And a moment after, another
+stone bounded into the valley.
+
+At that, he sent back M'Wane to tell Crouch that some one was
+approaching, and remained at his post alone.
+
+There is nothing more majestic in the whole range of Nature than
+moonlight in the mountains.  The white mists drift in the valleys; and,
+here and there, the great, ragged peaks blot out the stars.  Midnight is
+ever silent in the higher altitudes.  The slightest sound--the hoot of
+an owl or the bubbling of a spring--is magnified by echo, and carried
+far upon the breeze.
+
+Max, with his rifle at the ready, waited with his heart thumping against
+his ribs.  He heard a noise, quite near to him, but so faint that he
+could never have heard it had not every sense been on the alert.  He saw
+something white, moving like a ghost in the moonlight. Then, a loud
+shout was uplifted in the stillness.  "Allah Akbar! Strike for God and
+the Prophet!"
+
+Three white figures rushed in upon him from the darkness.  He fired, and
+one went down.  And then, reversing his rifle, he used it as a club,
+swinging the butt around him in a kind of mad delight.
+
+The two men who remained pressed him close.  He saw knives flash in
+their hands.  And then a third figure appeared, and a revolver spat like
+a cat.  Caesar himself was there.
+
+The Portuguese called back the two Arabs, spoke a few words which Max
+was not able to hear; and then all three abreast endeavoured to rush the
+wall.  Max fired, but missed.  He was attacked from three sides at once,
+and must have been overpowered had not Crouch hastened to his rescue.
+
+It was no more than a scuffle at the best.  Crouch emptied his revolver;
+but it was too dark to shoot straight.  Max used his fist, and sent one
+of the men rolling backwards; whilst Crouch flew like a leopard at
+Caesar's throat.  It was all over in an instant.  Caesar and his men
+drew off as suddenly and quickly as they came, taking with them the Arab
+whom Max had wounded or killed.
+
+Crouch took out his pipe and filled it.
+
+"I wish I had had the luck to hit that rascal," said Max, "instead of
+one of the Arabs."
+
+Crouch grunted as he lit his pipe.
+
+"When I shoot that man," said he, "I don't want it to be due to luck.
+Nothing's too bad for a slave-dealer, if that's what he is--which I
+doubt."
+
+It was then that they were joined by the Fan whom they had left with
+Edward.  He presented a note to Crouch, written in pencil on a leaf torn
+from a note-book.
+
+"_How goes it?_" was all it said.
+
+Crouch scribbled a reply: "_He's gone to bed.  But remain at your post
+till daybreak._"
+
+Sunrise brought their vigil to an end.  No sign of the Portuguese was to
+be seen; and presently news was brought to the village by a man who had
+been setting traps in the forest, and who had known nothing of the
+alarm.  This man stated that he had seen Caesar returning to Makanda,
+followed by two Arabs, who carried the body of a third.
+
+The delight of the natives exceeded anything that Max Harden had ever
+seen in his life.  They beat their wooden drums, and sang and danced in
+jubilation.  They realized that, at last, after two years of oppression,
+the yoke of the Fire-gods had been lifted from their shoulders.  They
+regarded Crouch and his companions as angels who had dropped from the
+skies to deliver them from bondage.
+
+That evening the three Englishmen held a council of war.  They regretted
+that Caesar had learnt of their return to the valley.  But that was
+inevitable; they had been in duty bound to help the natives. Though the
+mystery of Makanda was by no means solved, they had, at least, an
+inkling of the truth.  The explosion they had heard in the valley was
+undoubtedly the blasting of rock; and there was no question that it was
+for this purpose that Caesar required the services of slaves.  That
+explained why he had been unwilling for either the Europeans or the Fans
+to leave the stockade.  The kraal, fenced around by high palisades, and
+guarded by Arab slave-drivers, contained the slave gangs; and who can
+say what cruelty was perpetrated therein?  The slave trade had been
+abolished; but at that time, in the heart of Africa, it still flourished
+in all its blackest colours, with utter disregard for the equality of
+all men, who--whatever the colour of their skin may be--are equal in the
+sight of God.  Edward Harden was a man in whose big heart a sense of
+justice burned like a living flame. When he considered the innate
+cruelty of the Portuguese, who was willing to enslave even women and
+little children, his wrath rose within him and the blood flew to his
+face.  He felt that he could not rest until the fortress of Makanda had
+been taken, the slaves set free, and Caesar brought to his account.
+
+Still, Edward was no fool.  He knew well enough that it would be madness
+for three of them to endeavour to attack a defensive position held by a
+determined man and, at least, half a dozen Arabs.  It was then that they
+decided to arm M'Wane and his Fans.  They had with them six rifles and a
+shot-gun; a great quantity of reserve ammunition had been left at the
+camp on Observation Creek.  Crouch and Max undertook to teach the Fans
+to shoot; whilst Edward, with a party of villagers, made his way back to
+the camp in the jungle, to bring up all their supplies.
+
+The following morning Edward Harden set out upon his journey, and it was
+a strange crowd that followed him into the forest.  The majority of them
+were women; but the African woman is accustomed to manual labour. At
+Zanzibar, sea-going ships are coaled by great buxom wenches, who can
+lift a hundredweight as though it were a trifle.  With many inland
+tribes, between Mombasa and the West Coast, the work in the fields is
+conducted almost exclusively by women.  The men pride themselves upon
+being warriors, hunters of big game and setters of traps.  They consider
+it beneath their dignity to dig and delve and hoe the ground, since such
+employment entails no personal danger.  Edward, therefore, was well
+contented to have women as his servants; and before he started he
+bargained to pay them in beads, cloth and cowrie shells.
+
+Whilst he was absent, Crouch and Max became drill-sergeants for the
+nonce.  The Fans were first taught the mechanism of the rifle, and how
+to clean it.  They were then instructed in aiming drill.  Though Crouch
+had now a fair working knowledge of their language, for the most part he
+taught them by demonstration; and they proved most promising recruits.
+At last a target was set up in the valley; and rifle practice took place
+daily both in the morning and the evening.
+
+By the time Edward returned, though the Fans were not yet marksmen, it
+seemed probable that they would be ready to take the field in another
+day or so.  Still, both Crouch and Edward desired to run no risks. They
+did not intend to operate against Makanda, until they could do so with
+every chance of success.  It was Edward's suggestion that they should
+reconnoitre the settlement before they advanced.  They desired to
+discover the quickest route to the granite hills, and some position
+thereon--within striking distance of Makanda--where they could establish
+their headquarters.  It was also necessary to find out the strength of
+Caesar's garrison.  At the time of their visit, they had not been able
+to ascertain how many Arabs were secreted in the kraal.  De Costa, they
+knew, need not be taken into account; the man was an arrant coward.  But
+the Arab is a foe who can never be despised; he is a good rifle-shot, an
+intelligent soldier, and his religion teaches him to be brave.
+
+The next question was to decide who should be sent forward as a scout;
+and it was Max who was selected for the task.  Edward had just returned
+from the jungle; and besides, the big man was by no means so quick and
+agile as his nephew.  Crouch was out of the question; he had burnt so
+much of his cork foot that he could only hobble and would take too long
+over the journey.  It was finally decided that Max should start a day in
+advance of the others, taking with him provisions for three days, as
+well as his rifle and revolver.
+
+That evening, Edward and Max climbed to the top of Solitude Peak. During
+the day the crest of the mountain was invariably wrapped in clouds, but
+towards evening these usually disappeared.  On this occasion, a most
+magnificent panorama of the surrounding country was presented to their
+view.  They looked down upon the whole valley of the Hidden River, from
+Makanda to the mangrove swamp; and it was then that Edward filled in the
+final details of his map.
+
+They saw that it was possible to reach Caesar's stockade without
+entering the jungle.  If one followed the valley above which lay the
+Pambala village, one would come, in course of time, to the granite hills
+to the east of Makanda.  They calculated that, if Max started at
+daybreak, he would reach his destination towards the evening.
+
+Accordingly, soon after sunrise, Max set out, bearing with him the good
+wishes of his friends.  A native footpath led some distance down the
+valley, but there turned into the jungle.  Max struck across country,
+holding his course south-west by the compass.
+
+He halted at midday to enjoy a meal of biscuits and sardines, washed
+down by the clear water from a neighbouring brook.  As he sat in
+solitude, in the midst of that illimitable wilderness, he could not but
+reflect upon the strangeness of his situation.  Here was he, who all his
+life had been accustomed to the roll of London 'buses and the cries of
+newsboys in the streets, seated on a boulder, in the blazing heat of the
+tropics, thousands of miles beyond the pale of civilization.
+
+It was whilst he was there that he beheld, for the first time in his
+life--if we make exception of the animals he had seen in the Zoo--a
+great rock-python which lay, coiled in the grass, not twenty paces from
+him.  The sight of the thing caused him to shudder.  He sprang instantly
+to his feet.  As he did so the snake heard him, and glided away among
+the rocks.  In the thickest part of its body the great reptile was about
+the size of a man's thigh; and it must have been over twenty feet in
+length.
+
+Max, having no desire for such a companion, moved on in haste, keeping
+the mountain to his left.  For the most part, he passed through a kind
+of neutral territory, where the dominion of the jungle gave way to the
+barren, rock-bound slopes of Solitude Peak.  The afternoon was well
+advanced by the time he arrived at the granite hills.
+
+Here, he exercised the greatest caution.  It was possible that a
+sentinel had been posted on the crest-line.  He accordingly advanced by
+way of a donga, which led to the hill-top, and in which he could not be
+seen.  When he cleared the donga, a few yards from the crest, he went
+down on hands and knees, and crawled from boulder to boulder.
+
+A few minutes later, he found himself looking down upon the settlement
+of Makanda.  He was immediately above the kraal, and from that altitude
+he was able to see inside the enclosure.  The kraal consisted of four
+rows of huts.  In one of these was a white figure which, even without
+the aid of his glasses, he had no difficulty in recognizing as one of
+the Arabs.  This man, rifle in hand, entered a hut, and presently came
+out with a party of six slaves, all of whom wore iron collars around
+their necks, which were fastened together by a single chain.  Followed
+by the Arab, this party left the kraal, and turned to the left, towards
+the southern extremity of the lake.
+
+Max directed his field-glasses upon the stockade.  He could see no one
+therein but Caesar's Arab cook, who was walking leisurely from the
+direction of the river with a bucket of water in either hand.
+
+By now the slave-driver and his party were out of sight to the south.
+Max, anxious to observe whatsoever was in progress, descended from the
+sky-line and ran in all haste along the ridge.  He soon came to a place
+whence he was able to see the course of the river, which had taken a
+sudden bend to the west above the lake, where it was spanned by a rope
+suspension bridge, such as is often met with in the heart of Africa.
+Beyond the bridge, the sight that he witnessed held him rooted to the
+spot.
+
+He beheld a large quarry, where about fifty natives were at work.  In
+charge of these were four Arabs, and Max had no difficulty in
+distinguishing Caesar and the half-caste de Costa.
+
+The work which was in progress was singular, by reason of the fact that
+this was Equatorial Africa where, at that time, commerce, industry and
+enterprise were quite unknown.  A group of slaves in charge of the
+Portuguese himself, was gathered together beneath the walls of the
+quarry.  A little distance from them was a great heap of rubbish.
+Suddenly, the whole party was seen to set off running in the direction
+of the river.  Caesar was the last to retire.
+
+There followed a tremendous explosion.  A great column of dust and smoke
+was thrown up into the air.  And even before this had descended, or had
+been carried away upon the wind, both Caesar and the natives had
+hastened back to the place, where there was now a great rent in the
+living rock.  There they set to work carrying baskets of debris to de
+Costa, who supervised a party engaged in sifting.  Now and then,
+something was taken from the siftings and handed to de Costa, who
+examined it, and cast it into a wheelbarrow.  At intervals, this
+wheelbarrow was taken to a third party at the water's edge that was
+engaged in washing something in pans.
+
+Max was, at first, too interested and surprised at all this to take
+notice of an occurrence in the nature of a tragedy which was taking
+place farther up the stream.  There, about a dozen natives lay stretched
+at full length upon the sand at the water's edge.  Some of these lay
+still and motionless, as if in death; others were writhing in agony;
+from time to time one would endeavour to raise himself, but invariably
+fell back, drawing up his knees as if in fearful pain.
+
+Even at that distance, Max could not fail to recognize the symptoms of
+cholera--the most severe and fatal of all diseases.  At various
+intervals in the history of the world, cholera has raged in Asia and
+throughout the eastern parts of Europe.  In the early part of the
+nineteenth century a violent outbreak occurred in Bengal, which in a
+short time spread throughout the length and breadth of India.  Thence,
+it raged eastward into China, and westward through Persia and Turkey to
+Russia and Central Europe.  North Africa was also afflicted, and the
+valley of the Nile, whence the pestilence had evidently now crossed to
+the basin of the Congo.
+
+No disease in the world is more deadly and virulent.  It strikes down
+its victims swiftly and without warning.  Even as the men worked at the
+quarry, Max observed one who took himself a little distance from his
+fellows, and sat down upon a rock as though he were in pain.
+
+Caesar followed him, and ordered the man to return.  The poor fellow was
+too weak to obey; and thereupon the slave-master raised his whip and
+three times brought down his lash upon the naked back of the sufferer.
+The man's cries for mercy carried even to the hills, and it was all Max
+could do to restrain the burning indignation which kindled in his soul.
+
+Presently the order was given for the slaves to return to the kraal; and
+the whole party set out across the bridge, driven forward by the whip.
+If any man, in all God's Kingdom, had merited death by dint of his
+misdeeds, it was surely this relentless Portuguese.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI--THE OPEN CHEST
+
+
+At sundown Max looked about him for somewhere to sleep.  He soon found a
+sandy patch between two great boulders, and here he took off the
+haversack in which he had carried his provisions.  He had filled his
+water-bottle at the brook.
+
+After he had eaten he lay down, converting his helmet into a pillow. He
+felt quite secure; he could not possibly be discovered, unless some one
+actually walked over him--an event that was very unlikely to occur. He
+was thoroughly tired out after the day's march; for all that, he found
+himself quite unable to sleep.  He could not rid his mind of the sight
+he had seen that evening: the miserable slaves, dropping like poisoned
+flies, struck down by the cholera which raged amongst them, and yet
+goaded by the whip.  And if Max's sense of pity had been aroused, he was
+scarcely less curious to discover the nature of the work that was going
+forward at the quarry.  When, at last, he fell asleep this thought was
+dominant in his mind.
+
+He awoke suddenly, and found the same question on his lips: why were
+they blasting at the quarry?  He could not have been asleep for more
+than a few hours, for the moon was but newly arisen.  On consulting his
+watch, he found that it was only half-past twelve.
+
+He failed in his endeavours to go to sleep again; so he sat up, and
+tried to think the matter out.  He had already accomplished part of his
+mission: he had discovered that Caesar had not more than six Arabs with
+whom to defend the stockade.  It remained for him, on the following
+morning, to see if he could find a point upon the ridge whence
+rifle-fire could be opened upon Makanda.  For the time being, however,
+he resolved to go down into the valley under cover of darkness, to cross
+the suspension bridge and examine the quarry.
+
+Leaving his haversack, water-bottle and rifle behind him, he armed
+himself with his revolver, and set forward down the hill, making a wide
+detour around the kraal.  He was then devoutly thankful that Gyp had
+departed from the land of the living.  He found that he was obliged to
+pass nearer to the settlement than he liked; and had the Great Dane been
+on watch, no doubt she would have given the alarm.
+
+As it was, he passed in safety, and reached the river bank.  He had no
+difficulty in finding the suspension bridge, which he crossed on tiptoe,
+as rapidly as possible.  On the other side his attention was immediately
+attracted by the loud groans of the sufferers who had been left to their
+fate.
+
+It was quite beyond his power to do anything to help these men.  He had
+no medicines; he could not speak their language; and in the majority of
+cases, the disease was so far gone as to be incurable.
+
+Before he left the hills, the moon had disappeared behind a bank of
+clouds.  During the last ten minutes, a tempest had been driving up from
+the west, which now burst with all its force upon the valley of the
+Hidden River.
+
+Africa is the land of mighty storms.  The sky grew so dark that it was
+impossible for Max to see one yard before him.  Then, there approached
+in one wild, savage gust, a roaring, raging wind that bent the great
+trees of the forest like saplings and picked up the water in the lake
+before Makanda in little driving waves, whilst the rain came down in
+sheets.  The suspension bridge swung to and fro like a kite.  There came
+flash upon flash of lightning which illumined the quarry, so that the
+bare walls of rock were blazing like a furnace.
+
+The lightning lasted for seconds at a time, and at such times the scene
+stood for all that was barbarous and fantastic.  The dark, mysterious
+river flowed upon its course through the narrow gorge where the
+lightning beat upon the rocks.  The electricity in the air flashed, died
+out, and flashed again, like thousands of sparks in the wind.  And
+there, upon the white sand, writhing in torture, were the dark forms of
+those who had been stricken by the pestilence.
+
+Max had never felt so powerless.  He was in the heart of the Unknown.
+Close at hand, lay those who had been stricken by a force which all the
+resource of modern science had entirely failed to conquer.  Overhead,
+echoed and mirrored by the rocks, the typhoon rent the sky with sheets
+of fire, whilst peal upon peal of thunder caused the earth to tremble.
+
+Yet Max was by no means disposed to forget the object of his quest.  He
+was determined to find out the nature of the work which was carried on
+at the quarry.  He hastened forward, and presently blundered into one of
+the great heaps of sifted debris.
+
+He picked up a handful of this and examined it in the light of the
+lightning.  As far as he could make out, it was composed of a kind of
+fine gravel, in which appeared great quantities of a green stone, known
+as serpentine.
+
+Being unable to find out anything definite from the heaps of debris, he
+resolved to examine the quarry.  The wind was too great to permit him to
+strike a match, even had that been prudent.  He was obliged to rely upon
+the lightning to guide him in his search.  He availed himself of the
+opportunity of a series of flashes to run to the quarry, and there he
+found himself in impenetrable darkness.
+
+He stood waiting for the lightning to return.  It seemed that the storm
+was already passing.  These tropical hurricanes, that often uproot the
+trees of the forest, are seldom of long duration.  They are too violent
+to last for many minutes.
+
+Max was beginning to think that the storm was passed, when the sky
+immediately overhead burst into a lurid glow, and almost simultaneously
+a deafening peal of thunder rolled across the valley.  Max leaned
+forward to examine the face of the rock; and as he did so, he was seized
+suddenly from behind.
+
+As quick as thought, he whipped his revolver from its holster; and
+immediately the weapon was struck from his hand.
+
+The lightning still continued, jumping like fire-light; and Max was able
+to make out the dark eyes and the pointed beard of Caesar.
+
+The Portuguese was aided by an Arab.  The struggle that ensued was no
+more than an affair of seconds.  Max, though he fought with the strength
+that comes of desperation, was overpowered from the first, and presently
+he was thrown violently to the ground.  There his hands were tied fast
+behind his back.  Caesar was heard to laugh.
+
+"Get up," said he, and then ran on in his broken English: "You must
+think me a fool, if I do not keep a sentry by night over the richest of
+my possessions.  Come, follow me."
+
+He led the way across the bridge, and Max had no alternative but to obey
+him.  The Arab, rifle in hand, brought up the rear.
+
+They passed around the eastern shore of the lake, walking on the crisp
+sand in which their boots sank to the ankles.  Max saw the kraal wherein
+the man's slaves were asleep; and a few minutes afterwards they came to
+the stockade.  Caesar led the way into his hut--the hut in which Crouch
+and he had played cards some weeks before.  He told Max to sit down upon
+a chair, and placed himself on the other side of the room, with his
+loaded revolver ready to his hand.
+
+"If you endeavour to escape," said he, "I shoot.  I advise you to remain
+still, and listen to what I have to say."
+
+Max looked about him.  As far as he could see there was no method of
+escape.  His wrists had been bound securely.
+
+"In the first place," said Caesar, "I would like to know for what reason
+you have meddled in my affairs."
+
+"You are a slave-dealer," said Max.
+
+"That may, or may not, be true."
+
+"It is true," cried the young Englishman, his anger rising in a flood.
+"I know it.  The employment of slaves is a sin in the eyes of both God
+and man.  Justice is the duty of every one; and that is why we have
+meddled--as you call it--in your affairs."
+
+"I have already pointed out," said Caesar, "that the laws of
+civilization do not apply to Makanda.  But that is beside the mark.  I
+understand you are a doctor, that you have had some sort of medical
+training."
+
+Max answered that that was so.
+
+"Do you understand the treatment of cholera?"
+
+"I know the various methods that have been tried," said Max; "but, as
+you probably know, they are seldom successful."
+
+It was at that moment that Max heard a loud groan which issued from a
+hut not far away.
+
+"Do you hear that?" asked Caesar.
+
+Max nodded his head.
+
+"That is my friend, de Costa.  When he returned to the stockade this
+evening he was taken ill with cholera.  I went to look at him an hour
+ago, just before my sentry informed me that you were in the quarry.  He
+is dying."
+
+"How does that concern me?" asked Max.
+
+"It concerns you," answered Caesar, "inasmuch as it concerns myself.
+Your life is in my hands.  I can either kill you, or place an iron
+collar around your neck and yoke you to a gang of slaves.  If you do not
+do as I wish, I will have you shot.  If you obey me, you may continue to
+live--as a slave."
+
+"What is it you want?" asked Max.
+
+"I want you to do what you can to save de Costa.  He is of some use to
+me.  Indeed, I could not do very well without him."
+
+"I will do what I can," said Max.
+
+Outside, the Arab was on guard.  Caesar lead the way to de Costa's hut;
+and there, Max found the half-caste stretched upon his bed, with
+features drawn and haggard, and his complexion of a ghastly purple hue.
+His body was all twisted in his agony.  He was too far gone to speak.
+
+"Now," said Caesar, "I do not feel disposed to untie your hands; but you
+will kindly look at the bottles of medicine on that shelf, and see if
+you can find anything that might be of use."
+
+Max searched the shelf where the half-caste kept his stock of drugs, and
+had no difficulty in finding the very thing he wanted, namely, opium.
+He found also bismuth and nitrate of silver.  He instructed Caesar how
+to mix these drugs in the ordained proportions; and the Portuguese
+placed a glass containing the medicine at the sick man's bedside.  It is
+noteworthy that he took care not to touch the patient, for the disease
+is one of the most contagious in the world.
+
+"Will he live, do you think?" asked Caesar.
+
+"It is impossible to say," said Max.
+
+"You can do nothing else?"
+
+"Absolutely nothing.  He has reached the turning point.  If he does not
+die in an hour or so, he will live."
+
+"Come," said Caesar, "we must not risk contagion."
+
+Outside the hut he paused, and spoke to the Arab, who immediately left
+the stockade.  He then ordered Max to enter his hut, and followed with
+his loaded revolver in his hand.
+
+"You have come to spy out my secrets," said he.  "You are at liberty to
+learn as much as you wish.  It can make no difference to me; for I
+intend that you shall never see Europe again."
+
+So saying, he drew a bunch of keys from his pocket, and stepped to the
+great, padlocked chest on the other side of the room.  One by one, he
+unlocked the padlocks, and then threw back the lid, and stood by,
+holding the candle over the contents.
+
+"Here," said he, "see for yourself.  Few have ever witnessed such a
+sight."
+
+Max drew nearer, and looked down into the box.  For some seconds he
+stood as if spellbound, unable to move his gaze.  The chest was about
+three-quarters full of the most enormous Oriental rubies.
+
+Caesar took one at random, and held it before the light.  Garnets had
+been found in Africa, and even spinels; but these were genuine rubies of
+the highest quality, such as had hitherto only been discovered in the
+famous mines of Ava.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII--THE TABLES TURNED
+
+
+When Max looked up into the face of the Portuguese the man was smiling,
+so that his white teeth showed in the blackness of his beard.
+
+"You see," said he, "I did not come here on a wild-goose chase after
+all.  I first came to this river five years ago, and discovered the
+rubies of Makanda.  I promptly engaged the services of de Costa, who had
+worked in the mines of Santa Fe in Mexico.  This treasure-chest contains
+the result of the labour of two years."
+
+"And why have you employed slaves?" asked Max.  "Why did you not set to
+work like an honest man?"
+
+"For a simple reason," answered Caesar; "I desired the maximum of
+profit.  No one knows of my discovery.  I intend no one to know.  Paid
+labour is not only expensive, but workmen would come and go at their
+pleasure, and word of this would reach the Coast.  That is precisely
+what I desire to prevent.  There would be talk of rights and royalties,
+and probably international complications.  At present it is not known
+that rubies can be found in Africa.  I cannot speak too highly of these
+gems.  One of these stones, weighing five carats, is worth at least
+twelve times as much as a diamond of equal weight.  I am prepared to
+receive your congratulations."
+
+It was some time before Max Harden spoke.
+
+"Why is it," he asked, "that you tell me the secret you have kept for
+years?"
+
+Caesar smiled again.
+
+"Because," said he, "I number you among my slaves."
+
+It was then that Max heard the jangling of a chain without the hut. The
+Arab had returned.
+
+Max was led forth into the moonlight.  The storm was past, the water lay
+inches deep upon the ground.  There, shivering from fear, were five
+slaves--men who had been born and bred in the Pambala village on the
+mountain slope--fastened one to the other like so many dogs upon a
+leash.  At the end of the chain was an empty collar, which one of the
+Arabs opened with a key.  It closed with a snap around Max Harden's
+neck, and from that moment, according to the law of the slave trade, his
+soul was not his own.  The Arab cracked the whip he held in his hand,
+and like a team of dumb, patient animals, the gang filed from the
+stockade.
+
+It wanted but an hour to daylight, but the misery of that hour stands
+alone in the life of the young Englishman as the most terrible
+experience that ever came his way.  He found himself and his five
+bond-companions confined in a narrow hut in which there was scarcely air
+to breathe.  They had to sleep upon straw mats spread upon the floor.
+The long chain bound them one to another, so that if one man moved in
+his sleep he disturbed the others.
+
+There was no sleep for Max.  Even had he desired to sleep he would not
+have been able to do so.  The place swarmed with mosquitoes, and, after
+the rain, great pools of water lay upon the floor.  For all that, the
+majority of the natives lay down and slept like dogs, tired out by the
+day's work, and weary at heart at the implacable injustice of the world.
+
+At daybreak the slaves were summoned to their toil.  Gang after
+gang--and there were six in all--filed out of the kraal, in charge of
+the Arab drivers, and crossed the river by way of the suspension bridge.
+
+At the quarry Max gained a more intimate knowledge of the workings of a
+ruby mine than he had ever hoped to attain.  He himself was set to work,
+washing the dirt from the sifted rubies by the river bank.
+
+The slaves remained at the workings from sunrise to sunset, during which
+time they received two meals.  Their food consisted of manioc and
+plantains.  They were given no meat.  The gang which was employed in
+washing, to which Max was attached, worked in chains.
+
+These poor driven creatures took no interest in their task.  They set
+about their business mechanically, with never a smile upon their faces,
+and though they were allowed to talk to one another, scarcely a word was
+uttered.  Whenever they found a ruby they expressed no satisfaction,
+though it were worth a thousand times the price of their freedom.  They
+just handed it to Caesar, who examined the quality of each stone under a
+magnifying-glass.
+
+That day there were two more cases of cholera; two more of these
+unfortunate creatures were freed of their bonds to throw themselves down
+upon the river bank to die.
+
+Caesar was utterly without pity.  If a man fell ill he cursed him, and
+as often as not, resorted to the whip.  Max Harden felt that these
+things sickened him.  He had never dreamed that such barbarity could
+exist in an age of enlightenment and toleration.
+
+That night he slept--the sleep of those who are utterly exhausted.  He
+was over-burdened by the sights which he had seen.  The unhappy lot of
+these poor sufferers was like a mountain weight upon his heart.  It was
+a three-day nightmare, in which Caesar stood for all that was terrible
+and pitiless.  None the less Max did not despair.  His courage was
+maintained by hope.  He knew that as long as Crouch and Edward were in
+the land of the living they would not rest until the slaves had been
+avenged.
+
+Caesar knew now that Crouch had escaped from the jungle, and Max had
+been saved as by a miracle from the rapids.  But he had asked no
+questions.  He had gone back to his work at the quarry as if nothing
+unusual had occurred.  Perhaps he desired to fill his treasure-chest
+without delay, and take his rubies to Europe.  Perhaps he recognized
+already that the game was up.
+
+At daybreak Max was awakened by the Arab who had charge of his gang, and
+once more he was marched out to the workings.  That afternoon a strange
+thing occurred: de Costa appeared at the quarry.
+
+The Portuguese seemed genuinely glad to see the young Englishman.  He
+even grasped him by the hand.
+
+It was now that Max saw how invaluable the half-caste was to Caesar. The
+man was a ruby expert.  His business was to examine the gems, one by
+one, and select those of the greatest value.  His place was at the river
+where the washing was in progress, whereas Caesar himself superintended
+the blasting of the rock.
+
+De Costa drew near to Max.
+
+"You saved my life," said he; "I have to thank you."
+
+The Arab slave-driver was out of earshot, and even had he been able to
+overhear them he could not have understood since they talked in English.
+
+"If you wish to show your gratitude," said Max, "you can help me when
+the time comes."
+
+De Costa remained silent for a while, his weak, almost colourless eyes
+staring at the water of the river.
+
+"Yes," said he, "you saved my life.  None the less I will die if I am
+not taken to the sea.  The fresh air, the sea breezes--these are better
+than rubies, are they not?"
+
+He was silent for some minutes, whilst Max continued with his work.
+
+"There's a ruby," said Max, selecting a small blood-red stone from the
+handful of gravel he was washing.
+
+De Costa looked at it and then threw it into a bag which lay at his
+side.
+
+"Yes," said he, "it is worth about five hundred pounds.  But I was about
+to ask you if you remember the night when you saved me from the whip?"
+
+"I remember quite well," said Max.
+
+"Do you know why he thrashed me?  I was about to tell Crouch of the
+rubies and the slaves, and Caesar guessed it, and used the whip.  Then
+you came in, and Gyp flew at you.  I am grateful for what you did."
+
+De Costa sat cross-legged on the ground, with his eyes fixed upon the
+river.  The slaves saw nothing as they worked; long since their senses
+had been numbed.  Caesar was engrossed in his business at the quarry;
+the Arabs, with their loaded rifles in their hands, never moved their
+eyes from the slaves.  Max was the only one who looked about him.
+
+His eyes were fixed upon the granite hills across the river, to the east
+of the gorge.  The sky-line was rugged, by reason of the great boulders
+that lay upon the crest.  Two of these were close together, and from
+that position they bore a striking resemblance to two faces in
+profile--that of an old man and a woman.  As Max looked, the resemblance
+became more lifelike.  And then something dark passed from behind one
+boulder to the next.  It had been visible for no longer than an instant,
+but in that instant Max recognized M'Wane.
+
+He thought the matter out.  If M'Wane was there, Crouch and Edward were
+not far behind.  He knew that they would see him through their glasses.
+He continued with his work.  It was above all necessary that Caesar's
+suspicions should not be aroused.
+
+In life things sometimes so happen that it is evident our fate is not
+always in the hands of ourselves.  There is a Divine Providence that
+watches over us and is Master of the human will.  Max had no sooner
+decided to remain as servile and obedient as the most broken-hearted
+negro in Makanda, when he was called upon to act.
+
+The man next him, who early in the morning had complained of feeling
+ill, now lay down upon the ground and uttered a groan.  The Arab
+approached and told him to get up.  The poor fellow was not able to do
+so, and though he tried his best he fell back again, saying that he
+suffered the most violent pains.
+
+At that, Caesar drew near, whip in hand, and demanded to know what was
+the matter.  When he saw that here was another case of cholera, he flew
+into a passion.  He had no pity for the man.  He merely regretted the
+incident as a disaster, inasmuch as he had lost another workman.  He
+ordered the Arab to unlock the iron collar around the slave's neck, and
+then he raised his whip.
+
+The long lash swung high into the air, and then came down upon the bare
+back of the dying man.  Two strokes fell, and the whip had been raised
+for a third, when Max Harden flew like a wild beast at Caesar's throat.
+
+So sudden was the onslaught that the Portuguese was taken by surprise.
+Though Max was encumbered by the heavy chain which hung from his neck,
+he had room enough in which to move.  His fellow-bondsmen, unable to
+believe the evidence of their eyes, ceased their work and stood together
+in a crowd, their eyes dilated and their limbs trembling in fear.
+
+Max paid no heed to them.  He was like a mad dog on a leash that rushes
+forth from its kennel and lays hold upon its victim.  He took no heed of
+the consequences.  He neither thought what he was doing, nor asked
+himself whether it were wise.  He was just driven mad by the sight of
+such inhuman cruelty.
+
+He flung Caesar to the ground, and before the man could rise, the whip
+had been wrested from his hand.  Max placed a foot upon his chest, and
+the lash of the whip rose and fell, cracked, made circles in the air and
+fell again, until Caesar shrieked for mercy.
+
+[Illustration: "THE LASH OF THE WHIP ROSE AND FELL, UNTIL CAESAR
+SHRIEKED FOR MERCY."]
+
+Never, since the Dark Continent had been traversed by Tippu Tib, and the
+villages of the Upper Congo had been given over to plunder, had the
+slave-driver's whip been wielded with such remorseless energy.  Caesar
+groaned and writhed upon the ground, and struggled blindly to rise. The
+thong cut his cheek and hands, and the cruel knots which he himself had
+tied tore the coat from his back, till his cries became fainter, and at
+last he lay quite still.  And at that, Max cast the whip in his teeth.
+
+Throughout all this every one had remained motionless, rooted to the
+spot.  The whole thing had been so unexpected and so sudden.  Nothing
+like it had ever happened before.
+
+De Costa stood by with chattering teeth.  The very sight of Caesar's
+punishment had set the ague shaking in his bones.  The slaves were
+petrified by fear.  They looked on in breathless silence, with their
+mouths opened wide and their heavy under-lips hanging so low as to show
+their white teeth and gums.  As for the Arabs, even they were too
+surprised to act.  They had known the Portuguese for two years, and they
+knew that his word was law; not one of them would have dared for a
+moment to defy him.  On that account they could not believe what they
+saw.
+
+Caesar rolled over on his face, and then struggled to his feet.  He
+stood for a moment swaying.  Then he passed a hand across his eyes.
+
+After that, he shot Max such a glance as it were impossible to describe.
+Therein were passion, hatred and vengeance.
+
+He felt in his pockets, as if he searched for something.  It was his
+revolver, which had fallen to the ground.  Not seeing it, he staggered
+to the Arab who was nearest, and held out his hand.
+
+"Give me that," said he in Arabic.
+
+The man, with the stoic indifference of all his race, handed over his
+rifle, and Caesar took it, though his hand was shaking like a leaf in
+the wind.  Step by step, he returned to Max.  He walked like a drunken
+man.  There were great weals upon his face and hands, and there was
+blood upon his coat.
+
+"You shall pay for that!" said he.
+
+The slaves cowered at the water's edge.  They were like sheep in a
+storm.  As for de Costa, he stood there, impotent to help, yet willing
+to do so, his hands clasped before him, and shivering from head to foot.
+The Arab who had handed over his rifle was smoking a cigarette.
+
+"You shall pay for that!" said Caesar.
+
+So saying, he raised his rifle to his shoulder and took long and careful
+aim.  He was not ten paces from Max.  It seemed impossible he could
+miss.  Still, we must remember that he was unsteady on his feet, that it
+was all he could do to stand.
+
+There was a flash--a loud report--a quick jet of fire; and Max was
+struck in the chest with the cotton wad, and his face was blackened by
+the powder.  For all that, the bullet had sped past, to bury itself in
+the bed of the Hidden River.
+
+Caesar let fall an oath and then re-loaded, ejecting the cartridge case.
+That done, he stepped even nearer, and lifted his rifle again.
+
+At that moment a double report sounded from the hills, and the
+Portuguese gave a kind of gulp and then fell forward on his face, his
+rifle still in his hand.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII--FREEDOM
+
+
+There are some men who are born to command, who imbue their followers
+with confidence, who are masters of the art of managing men.
+
+Caesar was one of these.  He had entered the heart of Africa at the time
+when the first great explorers were opening up the unknown continent,
+and some small knowledge connected with the source of the Nile and the
+presence of the Great Lakes was reaching the ears of Europe.
+
+For the most part these daring pioneers penetrated Africa either to
+shoot big game or propagate the Christian Gospel, or in the cause of
+science.  Grant, Speke, Mason and Stanley were geographers, explorers
+before all else.  Livingstone was a missionary; and Cotton Oswell,
+Gordon-Cumming and Sir Samuel Baker were hunters of big game.  Unlike
+these famous men, the Portuguese, who afterwards adopted the name of
+"Caesar," was prompted by purely selfish motives--the acquisition of
+wealth.
+
+Like every one else, he found the interior overrun by the Arabs, who,
+since time immemorial, had exploited the equatorial regions for slaves
+for the Greek satraps and the Roman consuls.  The abolition of the slave
+trade did not affect the regions of the Upper Nile, the Great Lakes and
+the Congo.  Laws which men chose to make in Europe could in no way
+modify or hinder what went on in the equatorial forests.  Not only in
+Zanzibar, but even in Cairo, there was an open slave market where the
+trade continued to flourish.
+
+Nothing can speak so eloquently for the virility, the craft and cunning,
+of the Arab as the fact that for centuries millions of savage warriors
+were held in fear and trembling by a few hundreds of these ruthless sons
+of the desert.  In quite recent years, when Stanley made his passage of
+the Congo and the Aruwimi in search of Emin Pasha, he found Arab slave
+stations scattered at intervals throughout the unknown forest, and his
+whole expedition must have perished had it not been for the assistance
+he received from the Arab ivory hunters in the valleys of the Upper
+Congo.
+
+In his early days the tall Portuguese had also taken care to be on
+friendly terms with the Arabs.  He was one who was quick to learn, and
+experience taught him two things: firstly, that the Arab will do
+anything for profit; and secondly, that once his word has been given he
+is one of the most faithful friends in the world.
+
+The Arabs employed at Makanda were men whom Caesar knew that he could
+trust.  Each was to have his share of the plunder when the slave camp
+was broken up and the Portuguese returned to Europe.  Until then he knew
+they would stand by him, faithful to their promise that he could rely
+upon their courage in case of emergency.
+
+In the panic that now took place Caesar must have been captured had it
+not been for the heroism of the Arabs.  He had been taken by surprise in
+open country.  There was no escape by way of the quarry, and upon the
+hills on the other side of the river was Edward Harden, who, in spite of
+the fact that he had said that Crouch was a better shot than
+himself--had the clearest eye and the steadiest hand of any man
+throughout the length and breadth of Africa.
+
+The slaves were distracted.  Those who were joined together by chains
+ran to the quarry and huddled in a crowd.  Those who were free to go
+whither they listed ran to and fro, filling the air with their cries. As
+for de Costa, he could do nothing but wring his hands and look about him
+for some place of safety.
+
+Max, by the sheer weight of the slaves with whom he was yoked, was
+dragged onward to the quarry.  He tried to assure them that there was
+nothing whatsoever to fear, but they were incapable of understanding a
+word of what he said.
+
+In those brief moments it was only the prompt action of the Arabs that
+saved Caesar's life.  The Portuguese had been shot in the chest.  He was
+unconscious for no longer than a few seconds, and then he struggled to
+an elbow.
+
+When they saw that their master was alive two Arabs hastened towards him
+and lifted him in their arms.  Under a perfect hail of fire from the six
+rifles on the hills they bore him to a place of safety at the southern
+extremity of the lake where a long canoe was moored.  They could not
+cross at the bridge, since it was immediately under fire from the
+granite hills.
+
+Then followed a race--a race for the stockade.  Harden, Crouch, and the
+four Fans appeared upon the crest-line, and thence came down into the
+valley with a cheer.
+
+In the meantime, the Arabs so plied their paddles that the canoe shot
+across the lake like a dart, dividing the water at the prow into two
+long feathery waves.  When they sprang ashore, a little above the place
+where the Englishmen had landed on the day they first came to Makanda,
+M'Wane, who was leading the attack, was not fifty paces distant.
+
+The Fan chieftain dropped upon his knees to fire, and missed.  And a
+moment later the door of the stockade was closed.
+
+M'Wane retreated no less hastily than he had come, with the bullets
+flying at his heels, splashing in the sand.  Halfway up the slope he met
+Edward Harden striding forward, rifle in hand.
+
+"Too late!" he cried.  "Master, why did not the white wizard teach me to
+shoot like you?"
+
+Edward smiled, and placed a hand on M'Wane's shoulder.
+
+"You'll have another chance all right," said he.  "They've shut
+themselves up in a trap."
+
+By this time Crouch, who had already given up the chase, had descended
+to the suspension bridge and crossed to the quarry.  There the first
+person he set eyes upon was de Costa.
+
+"Hands up!" he cried.  And at the word de Costa threw up his arms
+pleading for mercy.
+
+Crouch looked about him, and heard Max's voice calling for assistance.
+And at that, of his own accord, de Costa took a bunch of keys from his
+pocket and offered them to Crouch.  They were the keys of the iron
+collars of the slaves.
+
+A few seconds later every slave was free.  They could not at first
+realize what had happened; and then, one man, more intelligent than his
+fellows, grasped the truth, and picking up the chain which had been
+fastened to his neck for many months hurled it into the river.
+
+Max told his story in a few words.  He explained how he had been
+captured, and showed Crouch the rubies.
+
+Crouch turned to the half-caste.  "Will you throw in your lot with us?"
+he asked.
+
+"I am ready to do so," said de Costa.  "I would have told you all that
+night when Caesar found you in the hut."
+
+"I have some reason to believe that to be true," said Crouch.  "I hold
+to my original promise.  Stand by us to-day, and I'll take you down to
+the Coast.  You must see that the game's up for Caesar."
+
+De Costa intimated that he was only waiting to receive orders.
+
+"Very well," sad the captain; "you probably have some authority over
+these poor brutes of slaves.  I suppose you can speak their language?
+Tell them they are free.  Explain to them that they owe their liberty to
+us, and ask them to lend us a helping hand.  Select a party of the
+strongest, and take them yourself to the village on the mountain. There
+you will find our ammunition and stores.  Bring them here as quickly as
+you can, and don't forget the medicine chest.  We must lend what help we
+can."
+
+"Where am I to find you?" asked de Costa.
+
+"Here," said Crouch.  "There are only seven of us, and we can't spare a
+man.  We shall need every rifle we've got to capture the stockade."
+
+"I will do my best," said de Costa.
+
+"I trust you will," said Crouch.  Then, his face lit up, and his only
+eye looked the half-caste through and through.  "By Christopher," said
+he, "if you fail me, I'll hunt you down!  All Africa won't be big enough
+to hold you.  I'll search the country from the Zambesi to the desert,
+and I'll find you in the end."
+
+He said these words with his teeth clenched, and his great chin thrust
+forward.  The little half-caste quailed before his glance.
+
+It was then that there came a burst of firing from the north.  Crouch
+stiffened in every limb.
+
+"There!" he cried, "the band's begun to play."
+
+Max followed him for a little distance, then remembered that he had left
+his rifle on the hill-top.  De Costa looked about him, bewildered.
+Events had happened in such swift succession that he felt that the whole
+thing might prove a dream from which he would presently awaken. Then he
+called the slaves together.  They obeyed his word from force of habit;
+and though there was nothing now to prevent them taking to the hills,
+they followed him meekly into the kraal.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX--THE PHANTOM CANOE
+
+
+That firing was the beginning of the siege of the stockade of Makanda,
+which lasted for seven days.  Edward Harden had approached too near, and
+had drawn fire from the Arabs who manned the walls.  The firing was
+answered by the Fans, who were somewhat over-eager to try their
+new-found strength.  Shots were exchanged until nightfall, when the
+three Englishmen gathered together to discuss their plan of campaign.
+
+They had every reason to believe that Caesar himself had been put out of
+action--at least for a day or so.  As far as they knew, the garrison
+consisted of six or seven Arabs.  The two sides were therefore equal in
+strength, but the advantage lay with the defenders, who were strongly
+entrenched, whereas the attackers had no cover nearer than the hills.
+
+They knew that the stockade was well provisioned, and it would take
+months for the garrison to be starved into submission.  Their only
+chance was to take the stockade by assault, and this would be by no
+means easy to do.
+
+They could not hope to succeed by day: a surprise would be out of the
+question.  They would have to advance across the sandy plain that
+enclosed the shores of the lake, and they would be shot down, one after
+the other, from the loop-holes in the stockade.  Their only chance was
+to assault the place by night.
+
+That evening they could do nothing.  Crouch and the four Fans remained
+to keep a watchful eye on the garrison, while Max and his uncle betook
+themselves to the kraal, to render what aid they could to the cholera
+patients.
+
+A few hours before daybreak de Costa set out for the mountain, with
+strict injunctions to return as quickly as possible.  It had taken a
+whole night for the slaves to realize that they had gained their
+freedom, and then, out of the gratitude in their hearts, they readily
+volunteered to act as carriers to the white men whenever their services
+should be required.
+
+For three days no assault was delivered.  The Englishmen and the Fans
+confined their energies by day to desultory shooting from the crest-line
+of the hills.  By night they closed in upon the stockade, to see that
+Caesar made no attempt to escape.  Throughout these days most of Max's
+time was taken up in fighting a far more formidable foe than a handful
+of Arabs and a wounded Portuguese.  With the aid of the few
+disinfectants and medicines which Edward had brought from the Pambala
+village, he did his best to stamp the cholera out.  Those who had died
+were buried, and their clothing burnt.  The remaining slaves, who had
+not followed de Costa, were removed from the kraal and taken to a place
+in the hills, where they were told to wait the issue of the siege.  A
+few deserted to their homes, for they were ignorant people, and had
+learnt by bitter experience not to trust the white man.  However, the
+majority stayed at Makanda, conscious of the debt they owed to the two
+Hardens and to Crouch.
+
+It was on the third night that Max decided to burn the kraal to the
+ground.  Great flames rose high into the air and illumined the crater
+through which the Hidden River flowed swiftly on its course.
+
+As the kraal burned the slaves upon the hill-top danced and sang.  They
+beheld in the spreading fire the burning of their bondage.  To them the
+red glow that filled the valley and made the barren slopes of the
+granite hills stand forth in the night like peaks in fairyland, was the
+dawn of happier days.  And Max, too, was light of heart.  He believed
+that that fire would stamp out the pestilence once and for all.
+
+Early in the afternoon on the following day de Costa arrived from the
+mountain.  He had remained faithful to his promise.  Only three slaves
+had deserted on the march, and the others were told to join the refugee
+camp which had sprung up upon the hill.  De Costa was to remain in
+charge of the liberated slaves.  The majority were Pambalas from the
+district, but several had been brought from so far away that they knew
+not how to find their way back to their homes.
+
+That night Crouch and Edward decided to attack.  They had now a large
+supply of ammunition, and Max, who had finished his duties as doctor,
+was free to take his place in the ranks.
+
+Max and M'Wane approached the stockade along the river bank from the
+south, Crouch and another Fan from the north, whereas Edward and the two
+others descended from the hills.
+
+There was no moon when they crept upon the garrison from three sides at
+once, moving cautiously forward on hands and knees through the sand.
+When about fifty paces distant, each party lay still and listened for
+the signal to assault.  This was to come from Crouch, who could imitate
+to the life the jackal's howl.
+
+Max and M'Wane, lying close as hares, waited for the signal to come.
+They could hear the wild beasts in the jungle, and now and again a
+faint, piercing cry, as some animal was seized in the strong jaws of a
+leopard or a lion.  The great cats were hunting like the white men who
+surrounded the stockade.
+
+Then the long-drawn howl of a jackal was lifted in the night, and at
+that those seven men sprang to their feet and rushed upon the defence.
+
+The Arabs had been warned.  On the instant fire flashed from the
+loop-holes.  The night was alive with the whistling of bullets, which
+dived into the water of the river or flew into the forest to send little
+leaves fluttering to the ground, or buried themselves in the trunks of
+gigantic trees.
+
+On the east Edward was driven back.  Before he reached the ditch one of
+his men had been wounded, and there he found it would be certain death
+to endeavour to scale the stockade.
+
+Max and Crouch on the other side were more successful.  It was the
+former who was the first to reach the gate, and endeavour to force it
+open.  The man who was there on guard put his shoulder to the business,
+and for a few seconds a struggle took place the issue of which was
+doubtful.
+
+At one time Max had the door ajar, but the man or men on the other side
+forced it back inch by inch until it was nearly closed.  It was then
+that M'Wane came to Max's assistance; and immediately after, the opening
+in the door grew wider by degrees.
+
+Had this affair been fought to a finish, it is beyond question that Max
+and M'Wane would have gained the fort, but it was at this moment that
+the unexpected occurred.  A rapid burst of firing came from the river,
+from the northern extremity of the lake.  A stream of bullets flew past,
+and many splintered the woodwork of the gate which had been the bone of
+contention from the first.
+
+To be attacked by night unexpectedly from the rear is an ordeal which
+the finest trained soldiers in the world find it difficult to stand. It
+was too much for the Fans.  Even M'Wane, who was as brave a savage as
+any who ever roamed the grassland west of the Lakes, turned on his heels
+and bolted.
+
+Max turned round, and on the instant the gate of the stockade was
+closed.  He had no alternative but to retire, and even that much had to
+be accomplished between two withering fires.  Five minutes later there
+was silence in the valley.  The assault had been repulsed.
+
+It seemed, indeed, as if this river would hold its mysteries to the end.
+They had heard weird legends of the Fire-gods from savage lips, dressed
+up in all the blandishments of fancy.  They had thought the problem
+solved in the slave gangs and ruby mine, but here was another mystery
+unsolved.
+
+While Max was engaged in his struggle at the gate, the sharp eye of
+Captain Crouch had seen a long canoe glide out from the darkness where
+the river penetrated the jungle.  Before he had had time to give warning
+of its approach, the occupants of the canoe had opened fire. When he was
+asked to explain it, Crouch could not do so.  They knew the course of
+the river from the Makanda to the rapids.  The canoe could be nothing
+but a phantom.  At daybreak no sign of it was to be seen.
+
+At first their suspicions rested upon the unfortunate de Costa.  But
+they discovered from the natives that that night the half-caste had not
+left the refugee camp; indeed, he had actually been seen asleep whilst
+the assault was in progress.  The natives had nothing to gain by
+defending a man who so recently had been one of their tyrants; and
+besides, it was not in the nature of de Costa's disposition to conduct a
+daring attack at dead of night.
+
+Throughout that day they kept a watchful eye upon the stockade.
+Everything appeared as usual.  They could see the white-robed Arabs
+moving about between the huts, and they subjected these to long-range
+rifle-fire from the hills.  Caesar's yellow flag still floated on the
+wind from the flagstaff before his hut.
+
+The three Englishmen went about their business--cleaning their rifles,
+cooking, or attending to the wounded Fan--sullenly, as if ill-pleased
+with the world in general, speaking only when spoken to, and then in
+monosyllables.
+
+The truth was not one of them liked to own that they had been worsted.
+Their attack had proved unsuccessful.  That in itself was sufficiently
+annoying; but, what made matters worse, was the fact that they could not
+explain how the catastrophe had come about.
+
+An hour before sundown they sat in silence at their evening meal.  They
+were obliged to feed thus early, because it was necessary that at
+nightfall they should take their places around the stockade to prevent
+the Arabs breaking out in the night.  The little sleep they got in those
+days they were obliged to take by day, when it sufficed for one of their
+number to watch the enemy's movements in the stockade.
+
+Suddenly Crouch drove the knife with which he had been eating into the
+earth.
+
+"I can't make it out!" he cried.  "I'll give credit where it's due; the
+man 's clever as a monkey.  What do you say?" he broke out in a
+different tone of voice.  "Shall we attack again to-night?"
+
+"Yes," said Edward; "certainly."
+
+That was the way in which the mind of the big man worked.  He thought in
+monosyllables.  He was not like Crouch, who had a thousand reasons for
+everything, who was always eager to explain.  With Edward Harden it was
+either Yes or No, and generally the former.
+
+"Look here," said Max, "I propose we go about it in another manner. Last
+time I undertook to reconnoitre the enemy's position I made a fool of
+myself, and was captured."
+
+"You did very well," said Edward.
+
+"I don't think so," said his nephew.  "At any rate, with your
+permission, I should like to try again.  I suggest that we surround the
+stockade as we did last night, but that I am allowed to go forward
+alone.  After all, I'm the youngest and most active of the party, if we
+exclude M'Wane and his friends.  I believe I can creep up to the wall
+without being heard.  I am sure I can vault the stockade.  As soon as I
+am inside I will fire at the first man I see, and when you hear that
+shot you must endeavour to rush the gate."
+
+Crouch knocked out his pipe on the heel of his boot.
+
+"Bravo," said he.  "There's no question you should meet with success. If
+you get into the fort--as you think you can--you'll take their attention
+from the gate, and we ought to join you in a few seconds even if the
+canoe appears on the river.  Still, it's a big risk you're taking; I
+suppose you're aware of that?"
+
+"Quite," answered Max.
+
+Thus was the matter settled; and soon afterwards darkness descended, and
+day turned to night in the course of a few minutes, for there is no
+twilight on the Line.
+
+They took their places in silence under cover of the darkness, and then
+waited in patience and suspense.  They had agreed upon midnight as the
+hour.
+
+Max, lying upon his face in the sand which still retained much of the
+warmth of the day, followed the hands of his watch, which he was just
+able to see in the starlight.  Never had he known time pass more slowly.
+Even the second-hand seemed to crawl, and he was certain that the
+minute-hand never moved the thousandth part of an inch.  And yet, at
+last the hour arrived.  He knew that on the other side of the stockade
+both Crouch and his uncle were ready to advance.  Rising softly to his
+feet he put his watch in his pocket.
+
+On hands and knees he crawled forward to the ditch.  He had decided not
+to encumber himself with a rifle.  His revolver was loaded in his
+holster.  He reached the ditch in safety, and there paused to listen.
+There was no sound within the fort.  The night was still as the grave.
+
+Summoning his courage he rose once more to his feet, and laid hold with
+both hands upon the sharpened points of the stakes which formed the
+enclosure.  Then, taking in a deep breath, he sprang, swinging himself
+on high, and landed on his feet on the other side.
+
+A second later he stood with his revolver in his hand, glancing in all
+directions, ready to fire at sight.  It was then that he stood in
+momentary expectation of a swift and sudden death.  However, no shot was
+fired.
+
+Seeing that he had entered the stockade and was yet undiscovered, he
+hastened into the shade of the nearest hut, and there knelt down and
+waited.
+
+For five minutes he never moved, and during that time he heard no one
+either on the banquette or among the huts.  Then he thought of Crouch
+and his uncle.  He imagined the suspense which they endured.  He
+realized that they must believe he had died in silence under the knife.
+Presently, whether he fired or not, he knew that they would attempt to
+rush the gate.
+
+It was, therefore, no longer necessary to remain undiscovered.  It would
+aid their purpose better if some one saw him and he fired.  His object
+was to create an alarm, to draw the attention of the garrison to
+himself, whilst Crouch and Edward, followed by the Fans, bore down upon
+the gate.
+
+He stepped out from his hiding-place, and walked down the line of huts
+until he came to that which was Caesar's.  He looked in.  It was
+deserted, though a candle burned low upon the table.
+
+At that he placed a finger round the trigger of his revolver, and fired
+three shots in rapid succession into the ground.  Then, standing in the
+doorway of the hut, he listened.
+
+Absolute silence reigned.  The truth burst upon him as in a flash: the
+stockade had been abandoned.  And at that moment there was a great
+crashing sound as the gate swung back upon its hinges, and Crouch and
+Harden burst into the fort.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX--THE RATS ESCAPE
+
+
+Edward Harden, rifle in hand, led the way, followed by Crouch and the
+four Fans.  As they entered the stockade, expecting to be attacked from
+all sides in the darkness, they opened out in accordance with a
+pre-arranged plan.  Crouch turned to the left and Edward to the right;
+and then, taking post on the banquette, they stood ready to fire.
+
+For a few seconds there was absolute silence.  The situation was so
+unlooked for that they could not, at first, realize what had happened.
+Then Crouch's voice was lifted in the night.
+
+"By Christopher, the rats are gone!"
+
+Max, guided by the sound of these words, found the sea-captain in the
+darkness, and confirmed his suspicions.  He said that he had been
+several minutes within the stockade, and had neither seen nor heard a
+living soul.
+
+It seemed as if the valley of the Hidden River would maintain its
+reputation to the last.  There was no end to mystery.  Time and again
+were they confronted with facts that they were wholly unable to explain.
+
+It was M'Wane who found a lantern in the hut which had formerly been
+occupied by de Costa; and with the help of this they searched the huts,
+one after the other, in the hope of being able to discover Caesar's line
+of retreat.
+
+It was not possible that the Portuguese and his Arab attendants had left
+the stockade by way of the gate.  By day, the garrison had been under
+the constant observation of their sentinel on the hills.  Every night,
+as soon as it was sufficiently dark to permit them to approach, the
+stockade had been surrounded.  They found nothing suspicious in any one
+of the huts, until they came to Caesar's, before which the yellow flag
+still unfurled itself upon the wind.  Here they discovered that the ruby
+chest had gone.
+
+Now, it would require four men, at least, to carry this heavy chest to
+the water's edge, and even then, the task could not have been
+accomplished without noise.  It was impossible to believe that the
+garrison had passed through the little investing force by dead of night.
+And yet, as far as they could see, there was no other means of escape.
+Caesar and his slave-drivers had vanished as suddenly and unaccountably
+as if they had been spirited away.
+
+They separated and searched the stockade from end to end.  It was M'Wane
+who gained the first clue, who came running breathlessly to Crouch.
+
+"Master," he cried, "the wood-stack has been moved."
+
+Within the stockade they had noticed on their arrival a great quantity
+of firewood, which had been cut in the adjacent forest.  On approaching
+this, Crouch saw at once that the wood-stack had been pulled down as if
+in haste.  Calling out to Edward to bring the lantern, he awaited
+further developments.  No sooner had Harden arrived than the mystery was
+solved.
+
+Leading downward into the ground was a broad flight of steps.  A kind of
+tunnel had been formed under the sand, about four feet wide and six feet
+high, revetted by wooden beams.  So all the time Caesar had been at
+liberty to escape, whenever he felt that he was sufficiently recovered
+of his wound to undertake the journey.
+
+When Caesar had constructed his stockade in the heart of the wilderness,
+he had been prepared for all eventualities and had neglected nothing. He
+had unlimited labour at his disposal.  Knowing the nature of his
+business, and the hatred with which he was likely to be regarded by the
+neighbouring tribes, he had thought it likely that, at some future date,
+he might be called upon to undergo a siege.  That siege might last for
+several months, by which time his provisions would be exhausted and he
+obliged to retreat.  As far as they were able to discover, the
+subterranean passage had been made during the absence of de Costa on a
+two-months' journey to the Coast, in order to procure fresh supplies of
+dynamite.  From the fact that the half-caste knew nothing whatsoever of
+the passage, it seems likely that the Portuguese had all along intended
+to desert his companion at the eleventh hour.
+
+Without a word, Edward Harden descended the steps, holding the lantern
+on high to guide his friends who followed.  The passage lay in a
+bee-line throughout the whole of its length.  It was about three hundred
+yards long, and whilst it ran through the sandy sub-soil in the crater
+of Makanda, both its walls and roof consisted of solid logs. For the
+last hundred yards it pierced the living rock, and at last came forth in
+the impenetrable darkness of the forest.
+
+By the aid of the lantern they were able to discover a path which led to
+the left, and after a few minutes' walking, this brought them to the
+river bank.  Here, in the soft mud, was the indentation of the bows of a
+canoe.  Moreover, the place was so screened by trees and tall reeds that
+no one, passing either up or down the river, would suspect for a moment
+that here was a mooring-place.  It was here that the "phantom canoe" had
+lain, to be brought upstream by two or three of the Arabs from the
+stockade on the night of the attack.
+
+No sooner did Crouch observe this evidence of the means Caesar had taken
+to escape, than he shook his fist in the air.
+
+"He's gone down-stream," he cried.  "But, I'll follow him, if he leads
+me a ten-years' journey through the wilderness.  I'll overtake that man,
+and I'll kill him.  I swear it.  I swear that I'll never set eyes upon
+the shores of England again, until I know that he is dead."
+
+And that was the oath of Captain Crouch, which--when we have got to the
+end of the story--will prove to us that oaths are very futile after all.
+The strength of man is limited; in face of the wonders of the universe,
+his knowledge is indeed small.  He may be strong and brave and
+unswerving of his purpose; but, after all, where men teem in cities, no
+less than in the heart of the illimitable and mighty forest, there is a
+greater Power than anything that is human--the all-pervading Spirit of
+the Universe, before whom the foolish vows of men are of infinitesimal
+account.
+
+Crouch had flown too often in the face of Providence not to be aware of
+that; but, just then, he was well-nigh mad with wrath and restless with
+excitement.  Snatching the lantern from Edward's hand he raced along the
+passage, until they found themselves again within the stockade.
+
+Still, the captain never paused.  He passed through the gate, and thence
+ascended the hills.  They found the slave-camp absolutely silent.  On
+every hand the unhappy negroes lay stretched upon the ground, and there
+in the middle of them was de Costa, nature striving to maintain the
+spark of life within that fever-stricken body, by means of healthful
+slumber.  On the eastern horizon, beyond the unknown hills which they
+had seen from Solitude Peak, the dawn was rising in a flood.
+
+With scant ceremony Crouch awakened first de Costa, then every one of
+the slaves.  Through the medium of the half-caste he spoke to the
+natives as follows--
+
+"We found you slaves, we have made you freemen.  Are you grateful for
+what we have done?"
+
+A murmur arose from the crowd.  They said that they were mindful of what
+they owed to the white wizard and his brave companions.
+
+"Then," said Crouch, "you can help us.  We are going down-river.  We
+must start at once.  We must take all our baggage, our stores and
+ammunition.  There are six canoes at the kraal, and these will be
+sufficient.  But we will need porters to make the journey through the
+jungle to the Kasai.  If you come with us, to carry our loads and
+canoes, we will pay you in cowrie shells and beads, brass rods and
+cloth."
+
+To a man they volunteered, and not five minutes later a caravan of fifty
+carriers, protected by seven rifles, descended to the lake before
+Makanda.
+
+In less than an hour the canoes were loaded, and then the expedition
+shot down the stream, the canoes following one behind the other in
+single file.  Crouch led the way, his quick eye sweeping either bank in
+search of the place where Caesar had embarked.  Max, in the last canoe
+brought up the rear.
+
+As the canoes gained the point where the sandy plain around the
+settlement gave place to the density of the jungle, all turned and
+looked back upon Makanda.  To the slaves, many of whom had worked for
+two years under the whip, without hope of ultimate salvation, it was as
+if they looked their last upon their prison doors.  As for the
+Englishmen, they remembered that grey, steaming morning when they had
+first come within sight of the stockade, when Caesar had fired at them
+from the water.
+
+All that had happened in the weeks that followed was like some strange,
+swift-moving dream.
+
+It was midday when they reached their old camp at Hippo Pool, and Harden
+and Crouch disembarked, to see if they could find traces of Caesar's
+escape on the line of their former portage.
+
+They met with instant success.  Some one had passed within the course of
+the last few hours.
+
+In consequence, the loads were disembarked.  Three canoes were sunk, and
+the remaining three lifted high and dry upon the bank.  It was whilst
+this work was in progress that Crouch, to his infinite delight,
+discovered his case of glass eyes, which he had left in camp on the
+morning of their adventure at Leopard Marsh.
+
+They were obliged to halt for a few hours for food.  They had brought
+with them a week's rations for their men: plantain flour, soaked manioc
+and ears of corn.  It was two o'clock when the caravan began to move
+through the jungle towards the Kasai.  They eventually reached one of
+their old camps by Observation Pool.  Their progress was necessarily
+slow.  The slaves were in no fit condition to do a forced march through
+the jungle; and that night it was decided that Edward and Max and the
+Fans should push on ahead, in an endeavour to overtake the fugitives,
+and failing that to bring back the Loango boys to help.  Crouch was to
+follow with the caravan with what dispatch he could.
+
+In two days, the advanced party reached the place where the creek turned
+to the south.  Caesar's tracks still followed the old route direct to
+Date Palm Island.
+
+On the fifth day of their journey from Hippo Pool, they came upon a
+place where Caesar had turned to the north.  Edward was an experienced
+tracker, but it did not require the eye of an expert to see that human
+beings had turned from the portage and followed an elephant track to the
+Kasai.  For a moment, Harden was undecided how to act.  If he continued
+on his way to Date Palm Island, some days might be wasted before he
+again picked up the trail.  In the end he decided to send Max and the
+three Fans to the north, and go himself with M'Wane to the Island.
+There he would load up the canoe, send half the boys down-stream on the
+look-out for Max, and bring the others back to the portage to assist the
+slaves.
+
+The following morning he shook hands with his nephew, and continued on
+the old route with which he was now familiar.  He had not gone far,
+however, before he noticed bloodstains on the leaves of the undergrowth;
+and presently, to his utmost surprise, he came across one of the Loango
+boys wounded by a bullet in the leg, and crawling painfully on hands and
+knees towards the river.
+
+This boy said that he had been hunting in the jungle--for they were
+short of food on the Island--when he had come across a caravan
+consisting of six Arabs and a white man.  They were carrying a canoe
+half-filled with supplies, and a great box which appeared to be
+excessively heavy.  The white man who led the way, seemed to be very
+weak, for he staggered as he walked.  Indeed, it is impossible to
+imagine the hardships that the tall Portuguese underwent upon that last
+and fateful journey.  So anxious was he to save his rubies, to gain the
+sea-coast in safety, that he had not brought with him sufficient
+supplies.  In consequence, he and his men were starving and, as we shall
+see, they had an even more deadly foe to reckon with.
+
+M'Wane, picking up the wounded boy in his arms, carried him like a baby
+throughout the rest of the journey to Date Palm Island.  There the man's
+wound was attended to, and he was placed in a canoe which was ready
+loaded two hours after Edward had reached the river.
+
+Once more Harden set forth upon his old track, leaving instructions that
+the canoe was to drop down-stream on the afternoon of the following day.
+The Loango boys from the Island, though they had complained of being
+short of food, were in fine condition; and the party came up with Crouch
+at the end of the second day.  Thence they made better headway and,
+following Caesar's trail, arrived eventually at the river, where they
+found not only Max and the Fans, but the party from the Island.
+
+And now followed a race down the river after the slave-drivers and their
+chest of rubies.  The three canoes which had been carried from the
+Hidden River, were embarked on the Kasai.  The slaves who had acted as
+porters on the journey were given the option of finding their own way
+back to their villages or going down to the Congo in the canoes. There
+was never the slightest doubt that the majority would choose the former
+course.  Half their number had come from the Pambala village on the
+slopes of Solitude Peak, and a score from other villages farther to the
+south-west.  In all there were only five who desired to journey to the
+Congo, and these were men whom Caesar had captured in the land of the
+Bakutu.
+
+The current of the river was so swift that the four canoes shot
+down-stream at a great velocity with little help from the paddles.  On
+the upper reaches of the great river, rapids and waterfalls were
+frequent, and at such times it was necessary to carry the canoe to
+unbroken water.  At each portage they found traces of Caesar and his
+Arabs.  Once the camp-fire of the Portuguese was still alight, and soon
+after that, on rounding a point, they came in sight of a canoe.
+
+They thought at first that they had overtaken Caesar, but they were
+doomed to be disappointed.  With the aid of their fieldglasses they
+ascertained that the canoe was coming towards them, working slowly
+up-stream against the force of the current.
+
+They were still more surprised when they recognised, seated in the stern
+of this canoe, the white solar topee and the black coat of a European.
+A few minutes later Crouch was within hail.
+
+"Who are you?" he asked, with both hands to his mouth.
+
+And the answer came back in the accent of Aberdeen: "James Mayhew, of
+the Scottish Missionary Society."
+
+That, indeed, was so.  This man alone, attended only by a few native
+servants, was forcing his way in the absolute Unknown, in order to bring
+the enlightenment of Christian knowledge into the depths of an endless
+forest, inhabited by cannibals and dwarfs.  They had time only to
+congratulate the missionary upon his courage, and to wish him every
+success.  Crouch gave Mr. Mayhew directions as to how to reach the
+Hidden Valley, and told him that, if he found his way to Solitude Peak
+and said that he had come from the "White Wizard," he would find many
+converts among the liberated slaves and the people of the village.
+
+On being asked whether he had seen the Portuguese and his Arabs on the
+river, the Missionary answered that he had passed them not an hour ago.
+The Arabs had been paddling furiously, as if their lives depended upon
+their reaching the Congo with as little delay as possible.  As for the
+Portuguese, he had been lying as if sick, in the body of the canoe, with
+his head propped against a great ironbound chest.
+
+Crouch waited to hear no more.  Waving his hand to the Missionary, he
+gave orders for the journey to continue.
+
+That evening, they expected to arrive at Caesar's camp, but by midnight
+they had come to the conclusion that the man was resolved to push on
+without halting for food.
+
+It was now that M'Wane and his four companions--the three that had gone
+to Solitude Peak and the one who had been left at the Island--asked to
+be put ashore.  They said they were not far from their own people, and
+were desirous of returning home.  For all that, they were extremely
+sorry to leave their masters, the great white men who had overcome the
+Fire-gods.
+
+When they left, there was much hand-shaking.  Each man was presented
+with a rifle and several rounds of ammunition, in addition to that they
+received enough beads, brass rods, and cloth, to gladden the hearts of
+any savage who ever roamed the equatorial forests.
+
+Throughout the night the canoes paddled to the north-west.  All this
+time de Costa lay in the body of a canoe, groaning with ague and
+shivering from fever.  It is a strange thing that in the close and humid
+atmosphere of the forest there is little malaria or malarial typhoid,
+which cause such havoc among the white men on the great rivers of the
+Congo Basin.  For it is above the surface of the water that the
+mosquitoes swarm, which breed these fell diseases.
+
+At daybreak they sighted Caesar.  They saw his canoe for no longer than
+an instant as it rounded a bend in the river.  The natives plied their
+paddles with a will, and Crouch, in the vanguard of the pursuit held his
+rifle ready to fire.
+
+All day long, beneath the blazing tropic sun, with the insects droning
+in their ears and the yellow seething water rushing onward to the sea,
+this strange race continued.
+
+Three times did they catch sight of the fugitives; once in the morning,
+once at mid-day, and the last time when the afternoon was drawing to a
+close.
+
+By then they were not five hundred yards in the rear.  It seemed
+probable that the Portuguese would be overtaken before night. Throughout
+that day native settlements on either bank of the river had been
+frequent.  They were but two hundred miles above the point where the
+Kasai joins the Congo, to the north of Stanley Pool.
+
+At last they entered a broad reach, where the river was straight as a
+Roman road.  On either side the jungle rose to the height of about two
+hundred feet--a tangled mass of vegetation, of creepers, vines,
+convolvuli, so densely interwoven as to give the effect of endless
+walls.  Far in the distance, at the end of this long reach, they could
+see an island standing in mid-stream, as if it floated on the surface of
+the river.
+
+Resolved to overtake the man before darkness set in and assisted his
+escape, they urged the canoes forward, until Caesar recognised himself
+for lost.  Two shots from Crouch, and Caesar's canoe drew in to the bank
+of the island.
+
+As they approached they saw the Portuguese lifted out of his canoe in
+the arms of his faithful Arabs, and deposited on the bank.  Then the
+Arabs, taking their rifles in their hands, opened fire on their
+pursuers.
+
+They realized at once that resistance would be hopeless.  The Loango
+boys, after many weeks of inactivity on Date Palm Island, were spoiling
+for a fight.  Not all of them were armed with rifles, but the odds were
+two to one against the Arabs, who knew that they could always trust the
+white men to show mercy.  No sooner had the Englishmen set foot upon the
+island than they delivered up their arms.
+
+Had Crouch shot them on the spot these men, who for two years had been
+scourging slaves with their whips, had got no more than they deserved.
+As it was, their weapons were not given back to them, and they were
+turned adrift upon the great river, with a week's provisions, to find
+their way back as best they might to some settlement of their own kith
+and kin.
+
+And then the Englishmen were able to give their attention to Caesar. The
+tall man lay upon the ground, rigid as in death.  The whole party
+gathered around him, with the exception of de Costa, who was himself too
+ill to land upon the island.
+
+Caesar's complexion was a dull, slaty-blue.  His face was drawn and
+haggard, his eyes had sunk deep into their sockets.  As Max pushed his
+way through the inquisitive Loango boys, who stood gaping at the dying
+man, Caesar struggled to a sitting position, and supporting his back
+against a tree, looked savagely about him.
+
+"Stand back!" cried Max.  "It's cholera!"
+
+It was then he realized the truth.  Caesar had thrashed one of his
+slaves for no greater crime than having contracted the pestilence that
+was ravaging his camp.  Max had snatched the whip from the man's hand
+and brought down upon his face and hands and back the cruel thong, whose
+very touch was contagion.  And thus was the vengeance of God, upon one
+who had done evil all his days, taken from the hands of Captain Crouch.
+
+Max was actually on his way back to his canoe to procure his medicine
+chest when the man looked about him, rolled his eyes to the heavens, as
+if he who had shown so little of mercy to others thought to find it
+there.  Then he fell back with a groan, and lay cramped and twisted in
+the agony of his death.
+
+That night, they buried him upon the island.  They filled ammunition
+boxes with the rubies, and burnt the chest against which Caesar had
+rested his head.  And then, they left him in the starlight, in the midst
+of the great stillness of the lonely river, to make his peace with God.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI--BACK AT THE "EXPLORERS'"
+
+
+The green baize doors are just the same as ever; and in the inner
+smoking room is Edward Harden, as large and clumsy-looking as on the
+morning when we met him first at the top of St. James's Street, except
+that, perhaps, he is more sun-burnt and somewhat haggard.
+
+It is winter; the London fog is without, and a great fire is roaring in
+the grate.  And before that fire is seated a young gentleman who now,
+for the first time, is enjoying the privileges of a member.
+
+Edward rose to his feet, and looked at the clock.
+
+"It's six," said he.  "Crouch ought to be here."
+
+Max Harden consulted his watch, as if to verify the evidence of the tall
+grandfather's clock which proclaimed the hour between the masks of a
+snow-leopard and a panther.
+
+"He said he would be back at five," said he to his uncle.  "I suppose
+we'd better wait."
+
+At that moment, one of the green baize doors swung open, and Captain
+Crouch limped into the room.  He was now dressed in what he deemed the
+garb of civilization: that is to say, a navy blue pilot-coat, with brass
+buttons, and a red tie that might have served to guide him in the fog.
+They had the smoking-room to themselves.
+
+"It's all right," said Crouch, "I've fixed it up.  Lewis and Sharp paid
+over the money this afternoon, and I gave them a receipt."
+
+"How much did they fetch?" asked Max.
+
+"Three hundred and eighty thousand pounds."
+
+Max whistled, but said nothing.  For some minutes, the three explorers
+sat gazing into the fire.  Not another word was spoken until Frankfort
+Williams burst into the room.
+
+Williams had no sympathy with those who roamed the equatorial forests.
+His own heart was set upon the ice-floes of the Arctic.
+
+"Look here," he cried, "what's this I hear about you fellows presenting
+a million pounds to some Missionary Society?"
+
+"Who told you that?" said Crouch.
+
+"Why, I heard it just now from Du Cane."
+
+"News travels quickly," said Crouch.  "But, a million is rather an
+exaggeration Three hundred and eighty thousand is the sum."
+
+"And it all goes to a Missionary Society!"
+
+"Yes," said Max, "you didn't expect us to keep it, did you?  It was
+slave-trade money.  We wouldn't touch a penny of it.  Why, it would burn
+holes in our pockets."
+
+"You see," said Edward, taking his pipe from his mouth, "a chap called
+Mayhew--nice sort of fellow from what we saw of him--has gone up into
+the very part of the country that we came from.  He wants to civilize
+the people; and after all, it's only fair that they should have the
+benefit of the money, for it was they who earned it."
+
+Crouch got to his feet, and turned his back to the fire.
+
+"See?" he asked.
+
+"Oh, yes, I see all right," said Williams, somewhat reluctantly,
+however.  "Of course, you couldn't very well do anything else, in the
+circumstances.  But, it seems rather a shame, somehow--when I can't
+raise subscriptions for an expedition to the west coast of Baffin Land."
+
+"Look here," said Crouch, "if you think we're going to take money from
+half-starved negroes, who have slept in chains and sweated under the
+lash, and give it to you to climb some flaming iceberg, you're in the
+wrong, my friend; and it's just as well for you to know it."
+
+Frankfort Williams laughed.  It was the custom in the "Explorers'" for
+those who favoured the tropics to scorn the men who were endeavouring to
+reach the poles; just as it was for the Arctic adventurers to wax
+ironical on the subject of cannibals and mangrove swamps, poisoned
+arrow-heads and manioc.  Williams talked for some few minutes upon the
+current topics of the day, and then left the club.
+
+When he was gone, the three friends remained in their old positions
+before the fire.  Though not a word was said, the thoughts of each
+drifted in the same direction.  They saw the steaming mist upon a wide,
+tropic river; they heard the hum of thousands of insects in their ears,
+and the cries of the parrots overhead.  They passed over, once again,
+the route of their portage from Date Palm Island to Hippo Pool, and set
+forth in fancy into the valley of the Hidden River.
+
+At last, Crouch got from his chair and, walking to the window, looked
+out into the street.  The fog had lifted in a fine, drizzling rain.
+Shadowy figures hurried past, each with umbrella in hand, whilst the
+reflection from the lights of the club windows glistened on the
+pavement.  The shops had closed.  The workers were hurrying home; and
+the London that had no need to work was dressing up for dinner.  Crouch
+swung round upon his heel.
+
+"I'm sick of this!" he cried.
+
+"So am I," said Edward.  "Where shall we go?"
+
+Max got to his feet, and fetched down the map.
+
+
+
+                                THE END
+
+
+
+
+
+       PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY RICHARD CLAY & SONS, LIMITED,
+       BRUNSWICK ST., STAMFORD ST., S.E. 1, AND BUNGAY, SUFFOLK.
+
+
+
+
+
+                                  ----
+
+                          THE BOY'S LIBRARY OF
+                         Adventure and Heroism.
+
+
+An excellent series of Gift Books, of good bulk, handsomely printed,
+illustrated and bound.  Large crown 8vo, cloth gilt, coloured wrappers.
+
+The Fifth Form at St Dominic's.  By TALBOT BAINES REED.
+
+A lively and thoroughly healthy tale of Public School life; abounding in
+stirring incident and in humorous descriptions.
+
+A Hero in Wolfskin.  By TOM BEVAN.
+
+A Story of Pagan and Christian.
+
+A young Goth performs feats of valour against the Roman legions, and
+dazzles a huge audience with his prowess in the Coliseum.
+
+The Adventures of Val Daintry in the Graeco-Turkish War.  By V. L.
+GOING.
+
+A bright and vigorous story, the main scenes of which are laid in the
+last war between Turkey and Greece.
+
+The Adventures of a Three-Guinea Watch.  By TALBOT BAINES REED.
+
+A straightforward story of school-life, and of the duties and
+temptations of young men entering upon the work of life.
+
+The Cock-House at Fellsgarth.  A Public School Story.  By TALBOT BAINES
+REED.
+
+The juniors' rollicking fun, the seniors' rivalry, the school elections
+and football match are all told in a forcible manner.
+
+A Dog with a Bad Name.  By TALBOT BAINES REED.
+
+The story of a big, ungainly youth who seemed fated to be misunderstood,
+and to be made the butt of his comrades.
+
+The Master of the Shell.  By TALBOT BAINES REED.
+
+Dealing with the pranks of schoolboys, bubbling over with mischief and
+fun, and the trials of a young House-Master.
+
+From Scapegrace to Hero.  By ERNEST PROTHEROE.
+
+The Scapegrace, who became a thorough-going hero, was a wild,
+unmanageable village boy possessing an inveterate taste for mischief.
+
+My Friend Smith.  By TALBOT BAINES REED.
+
+A first-rate story dealing with the temptations and difficulties boys
+meet with when entering upon business life.
+
+Comrades under Canvas.  By FREDERICK P. GIBBON.
+
+A breezy, healthy tale, dealing with the adventures of three Boys'
+Brigade companies during their annual camp.
+
+Parkhurst Boys, and other Stories of School Life.  By TALBOT BAINES
+REED.
+
+A collection of stories from _The Boy's Own Paper_, containing some of
+this popular author's best work and brightest wit.
+
+Reginald Cruden.  By TALBOT BAINES REED.
+
+Depicting the last days at school of Reginald Cruden, who then starts in
+business at the bottom of the ladder.
+
+Roger Ingleton, Minor.  By TALBOT BAINES REED.
+
+A bright, vigorous story for boys, introducing the reader to various
+characters, all drawn with this well-known author's usual skill and
+power.
+
+That Boy of Fraser's.  By ERNEST PROTHEROE.
+
+David Fraser passed through many troubles caused by the disappearance of
+his father; how he encountered them makes invigorating reading.
+
+With Rifle and Kukri.  By FREDERICK P. GIBBON
+
+The many heroic deeds called forth by England's "little wars" along the
+Indian frontier are here, narrated in stirring language.
+
+Meltonians All!  By F. COWLEY WHITEHOUSE.
+
+A first-rate story of school-life and after, full of vim and stirring
+incidents.  Jim, Ken and Goggles make a fine trio.
+
+Myddleton's Treasure.  By ERNEST PROTHEROE.
+
+Railway accidents, the evil doings of those in power, a shipwreck, and
+adventures in Africa all help to make up a thrilling story.
+
+The Baymouth Scouts.  By TOM BEVAN.
+
+A thrilling story, especially suitable for Boy Scouts, of the days of
+Napoleon, and his threatened invasion of England.
+
+Rollinson and I.  By W. E. CULE.
+
+The Story of a Summer Term.
+
+An attractive tale of schoolboy life, detailing a broken friendship,
+much misunderstanding, repentance, and finally reconciliation between
+the two characters in the title-role.
+
+Under the Edge of the Earth.  By F. H. BOLTON.
+
+A schoolmaster with a genius for mathematics has various hobbies, one of
+which proves useful in the rescuing of a kidnapped boy.
+
+Derrick Orme's Schooldays.  By EDITH C. KENYON.
+
+Describes the experiences and persecutions of a high-minded Colonial lad
+by a bullying schoolfellow, who is at last driven to admit his
+transgressions.
+
+Sir Ludar.  By TALBOT BAINES REED.
+
+A stirring tale of the days of Queen Elizabeth, dealing with the
+wonderful adventures of a sturdy 'prentice-lad.
+
+Tom, Dick and Harry.  By TALBOT BAINES REED.
+
+A splendid story, exhibiting in the highest degree this popular author's
+knowledge of schoolboy life and humour.
+
+Submarine U93.  By CAPTAIN CHARLES GILSON.
+
+A thrilling tale, in which the U boat is the principal factor.  The
+youthful hero, with that redoubtable personage, Captain Crouch, passes
+through many ordeals and adventures.
+
+The Boy Scout's Companion.  Edited by MORLEY ADAMS.
+
+Everything that the aspiring Scout can learn from books is here
+generously provided.  The book is full of interest and value.  A capital
+collection of all sorts of information.
+
+Into the Soundless Deeps.  A Tale of Wonder and Invention.  By F. H.
+BOLTON.
+
+The problems of sound and a "wonder-box," known as the "long distance"
+ear, provide the main theme in this exciting story, in which adventures
+with Spanish brigands also figure.
+
+The Mystery of Ah Jim.  A Story of the Chinese Underworld, and of
+Piracy and Adventure in Eastern Seas.  By CAPTAIN CHARLES GILSON.
+
+In the unravelling of the mystery surrounding his parentage, an English
+boy, brought up as a Chinese, passes through many adventures on sea and
+land.
+
+                         The Recreation Series.
+
+A splendid set of gift-books, providing recreation both for the body and
+the mind.  Profusely illustrated, of good bulk, handsomely printed, and
+attractively bound in cloth gilt.
+
+The Boy's Own Book of Outdoor Games and Pastimes.  Edited by P. P.
+WARNER.
+
+Every phase of sport is represented in this volume, from Cricket to
+Kite-Flying, and each contribution is by some well-known authority.
+
+The Boy's Own Book of Indoor Games and Recreations.  Edited by MORLEY
+ADAMS.
+
+Containing a mine of information on Conjuring, Ventriloquism, Model and
+Toy making, Puzzles, Home Entertainments, and so on.
+
+The Boy's Own Book of Pets and Hobbies.
+
+Edited by MORLEY ADAMS.
+
+An invaluable guide to finding something to do.  Many a long evening may
+be brightly spent and lasting pleasure afforded by it.
+
+Every Boy's Book of Railways and Steamships.
+
+By ERNEST PROTHEROE.
+
+The author marshals his facts skilfully and tells, without
+technicalities, the romance of the railway and the great waterways of
+the world.
+
+The Handy Natural History (Mammals).
+
+By ERNEST PROTHEROE, F.Z.S.
+
+This marvellous book is something more than a mere record of
+observation, while the exploits of many hunters of wild beasts are
+recorded.
+
+Adventures in Bird-land.  By OLIVER G. PIKE, F.Z.S.
+
+An admirably written description of the adventures which the
+photographer and naturalist has to encounter in his quest for pictures
+of British birds.
+
+Home Life in Bird-land.  By OLIVER G. PIKE, F.Z.S.
+
+A deeply interesting narrative of the habits of our feathered friends,
+which will be eagerly welcomed and appreciated for the charm which it
+reveals.
+
+The Boy's Own Book of Heroism and Adventure.
+
+Edited by A. R. BUCKLAND, M.A.
+
+Heroism of many sorts and thrilling adventures in many lands, by
+well-known writers for boys, crowd these pages.
+
+
+                  LONDON: THE RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY.
+
+
+
+
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE FIRE-GODS***
+
+
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